


Newfound Family

by kewlkatherine



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Family Feels, Hurt Steve Rogers, Kid Wanda Maximoff, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-23 03:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30049500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kewlkatherine/pseuds/kewlkatherine
Summary: After finding her twin brother dead, little Wanda Maximoff is so heartbroken she can barely even comprehend anything. She has no home and now her only family is dead, so Natasha takes her under her wing to show her just how wonderful, although dangerous, a powerful 8 year old's life can be. (Cross-posted with Fanfiction.net)
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Wanda Maximoff & Natasha Romanov, Wanda Maximoff & Steve Rogers
Comments: 25
Kudos: 124





	1. Chapter 1

Natasha internally sighed as she secretly stared at the small girl, seated across from her on the Quinjet. The poor girl was staring mindlessly out the window, her shallow blue eyes fixed on the same point. Every so often, a tear would roll down her cheek, and she would immediately brush it away, afraid of showing any sign of weakness.  
About an hour into the flight, Wanda fell asleep out of pure exhaustion. Mentally and physically, Natasha thought.  
Nat studied her face. Her cheeks were bloodied and sunk in, and she was very skinny. The poor kid was maybe 11 or 12 years old, but she looked around 8 or 9. Well, she never really asked Wanda her age. Natasha hoped she was 11 or 12. If she was any younger and put herself in danger like that, Natasha wouldn’t know how she would feel. It made her nauseous just to think about it.  
Nobody, especially Natasha, held it against poor Wanda for how she acted before she decided to team up with Clint against Ultron. She was doing what she thought would protect her and her brother, and they were just kids. Well, one kid now.  
Natasha was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t even realize Clint took a seat beside her. She startled a little, but Wanda startled a lot. She snapped her eyes open, looking around before remembering where she was.  
“Hey, you okay, kid?” Clint asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder. Wanda flinched and pulled away.  
“Don’t touch me! I don’t want to hurt you!” She said aggressively, but immediately her eyes fell. She regretted being so defensive. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-“  
“It’s okay, Wanda. We know you’ve been through a lot, sweetie.” Natasha cautiously took a seat beside her, placing a reluctant hand on her shoulder.  
Clint took a seat on the other side of her, grabbing a clipboard on his way over.”  
“Dr. Cho, our doctor, wants us to ask you a few questions before we get back to the compound, as long as that’s okay with you?”  
Wanda nodded solemnly. Nat could tell she really wished her brother was there with her. From her similar experience to the one Wanda just had, being experimented on like a monster, question interrogations were a scary thing.  
Nat smiled at her. It was forced and fake, but she hoped Wanda couldn’t tell.  
“Don’t worry, sweetie. These questions are just for Dr. Cho, and if there’s anything that you don’t want to say right now, that’s okay.”  
Clint glared at Natasha. “There is one question we need though, kiddo. Exactly how old are you, Wanda?  
Wanda lowered her head, sinking herself lower into Natasha’s red leather jacket. It was huge on her, more like a dress, but she didn’t want to take it off. She adjusted her legs into a cross-legged position on the seat.  
“Sweetie, you have to answer. Please?” Natasha coaxed, wiping a stray tear off of her cheek. Wanda flinched at the kind gesture but didn’t pull away.  
Wanda took a deep breath. Her voice came out hoarse and shaky. “I-If I answer you, will you promise not to send me back? It's scary there, especially if I’m all by myself, and I don’t want to go back to HYDRA, and-“  
“Hold on, Sweetie,” Natasha said, squeezing her arm gently. Wanda stopped rambling.  
“Sorry.” She lowered her head.  
“There’s no need to apologize, and we are never going to send you back.”  
Wanda gave a small huff of relief. Poor girl, Natasha thought. She wondered how long she had that fear in her head, probably the whole plane ride.  
“How old are you Wanda?” Nat asked again.  
“E-Eight.” Wanda waited for their answers, but none came. Nat and Clint stared at her, dumbfounded. Natasha felt sick. She cannot believe an eight-year-old had fought a full-blown battle with them. Two, for that matter. And one of them died!  
When no answer came, Wanda filled the void with her voice.  
“But I’ll be nine in…” She counted for a moment. “Five months! And nine is basically 10, and 10 is basically 12, and 12 is pretty much a teenager. So I can be an avenger. Clint said I was an avenger! Please don’t send me back!” Her voice was cracking again.  
Natasha whipped her head around to Clint.  
“You told her she was an avenger?”   
“I was caught in the moment, okay? I told her that if she helped us, she could be an avenger.”  
“You told her to come and fight with us?” Nat yelled. Wanda instinctively plugged her ears and shut her eyes. Nat could tell she hated screaming.  
“Sorry, sweetie,” Nat said, brushing Wanda’s matted and bloodied hair back out of her face. She continued her conversation with Clint, this time, a half yell, half-whisper.  
“I can’t even begin to believe why you would do such a thing!”  
“I’m sorry. Firstly, I thought she was a little older than eight. I was also caught in the moment, okay? I wasn’t really thinking, and I’m not used to babysitting during a battle.  
Nat swung her head around to find that the little witch wasn’t in her seat. She sighed.   
“Well, you better get used to it, because she is staying at the compound.”  
Nat’s eyes wandered to the cockpit where Wanda was standing over Tony’s shoulder. He was showing her all the buttons on the jet, even letting her press one, which she did, slowly and carefully.  
Nat smiled slightly, and Clint snapped her back to her conversation.  
“I really am sorry, Nat.”  
Nat sighed and hugged him. A hug she really needed from her best friend.  
“The poor kid. She’s only a year older than Lila, and she’s never actually been a kid before, just because of HYDRA.”  
Nat looked up at clint. She wanted to let go, not one for physical affection, but a part of her needed to stay, so she did.  
“You know,” Nat’s voice came out muffled, hidden by Clint’s sweatshirt. “She reminds me so much of myself at that age. Quiet, reserved, so cautious that every single move you make will get you into trouble.” Nat thought for a moment before pulling away.  
“I’m going to take her under my wing. Become her guardian, give her a childhood I never had. And she can train with us, learn how to control her powers, understand when and when not to use them.”  
“Nat, are you sure that’s-“  
“Yes, I am 100% sure. This is one thing I am 100% sure of.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everybody who reads this! This fic has been going on for the past few weeks on Fanfiction.net, but I have decided to also post it here! So you get the first 11 chapters all at once, and then the rest will come out a few times a week, and will be posted both here and on FF.net!  
> Thanks for reading!  
> -Kate

Wanda didn’t even notice when the plane landed. After sitting up in the front with Tony, she had wandered back to her seat beside Natasha and rode the rest of the way in silence.  
Wanda liked Natasha. She had a certain calmness about her that made it easy to be around, despite the fact that she was almost always emotionless. Wanda sat silently, listening to Natasha and Clint chat to her about what they would do when they got to the compound. Straight to the hospital wing for all of them, then apparently Natasha was going to show Wanda to her new bedroom.  
“I am staying with you?” Nat and Clint looked at each other, then at her.  
“What did you think we would do, milaya? Drop you off on the side of the road and say goodbye forever?”  
Wanda shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t know what to think.  
After the plane landed and everyone got off, Natasha stayed back with Wanda to talk to her for a moment. Wanda was glad. She felt overwhelmed with everyone asking how she was doing. She wanted to draw as little attention to herself as possible. It was safer that way.  
Natasha crouched down to her level, and it made Wanda feel safer.  
“What would you think about staying with me? We could stick together, you and me. Be a team. I could even teach you how to control your powers, so you didn’t have to worry about hurting anyone. What do you think?”  
Wanda nodded timidly. She was surprised that she wanted to stay with Natasha. The whole plane ride home she feared she would be dropped off and left in the dust. She had been the enemy, after all.  
Nat smiled and waved her forward. “Come on. We have a doctor’s appointment to get to.”  
Wanda followed along for a moment before stopping.  
“Natasha?” Nat turned around to see the little girl’s eyes glazed with tears. One by one, they fell. Nat crouched down again, and Wanda ran to her.  
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I went into your head. I saw your thoughts and you're just like me. I hurt you and I don’t want to do it again.” She was balling at this point. Natasha pulled her into a hug, but Wanda pulled away.  
“You can’t touch me! What if I hurt you again? I’m a bad person.”  
Nat rubbed her shoulders.  
“Wanda, you could never hurt me. You’ve been hurt by some very bad people in the past, just like me.” Natasha took a deep breath. She hated talking about her past. “But just like me, you have to learn that you’re not a bad person, and it’s not your fault. You deserve a family and a happy life, just like any other kid.”  
“But I’m not like other kids. I could kill someone!”   
Nat sighed. She wasn’t wrong. Wanda technically could kill someone if she wanted to. She was very powerful. But she knew she wouldn’t.  
“Sweetie, I know I don’t know you very well, but I do know that you would never hurt anybody on purpose.” Nat took her hands. Wanda flinched but she didn’t pull away. She trusted Nat.  
“I know I don’t have the same powers as you, but I do know that those hands of yours can do a lot of good for this world.”  
“Like an Avenger?”  
Nat laughed. There was so much innocence in her voice.  
“Like an Avenger.” Nat got up off the ground.  
“You have to promise me one thing though, Wanda.” She let go of one of her hands, keeping hold of the other one.  
“What?”  
“We are going to train every day on how to control your powers, so that one day, maybe you can be an Avenger. But for now, I want you to focus on your life, okay?”  
Wanda nodded. She didn’t really know what that meant but she found herself disappointed. She wanted to fight with the rest of them, but she had had an idea that Natasha and the rest of the Avengers wouldn’t let her. They weren’t like Strucker and the other scientists. They actually cared about what happened to her.  
\------  
Wanda followed Natasha silently into the building, letting her pull her along with her hand. When they got to the hospital wing and the lab, Natasha could see the visible panic on her face. She was pale, and her eyes glowed slightly scarlet. Small, harmless, tendrils of red encased her intertwined had with Natasha’s.  
Wanda pulled on her hand. “I’m scared. I don’t want to do this.”  
Nat crouched down again. She was surprised the girl was telling her this. Nat thought back to when she was eight when she wouldn’t tell anyone anything.  
“Okay. What about this makes you scared?”  
Wanda pointed to a woman through the window. It was Dr. Cho, dressed in a lab coat.  
“Them. I don’t want any scary needles or medicine. The ones at the other place said it would make me better, but it just hurt. A lot.”  
Natasha’s heart broke. The other place. By the other place, poor Wanda meant Strucker’s lab, where they experimented on her and her brother.  
“Milaya,” Nat touched Wanda’s forehead, where a nasty cut was drying with blood. She had gotten hit with debris during the battle.  
“How else will we stitch up your injury?”  
Wanda looked at her feet. A drop of blood fell to the floor. She thought it was coming from her head but her lip was trickling blood too.  
“You could do it for me.”  
Natasha took her hand again. “I can’t do it, you need a real doctor. But I can promise you something.”  
Wanda looked up.  
“I promise that I will stay with you the whole time, and that these doctors will make actually make you better. All they will do is stitch up your cut, check you for any more injuries, then we can go have something to eat, okay?”  
Wanda nodded, biting her lip. So that’s why it was bleeding. She was biting it out of anxiety.  
\---  
Inside the lab, Natasha had asked the scientists and Dr. Cho to remove their lab coats, so they just looked like regular people. It seemed to bring Wanda a little comfort, as the red left her eyes and the tendrils stopped pulsing in her hands, but her pale face and worried expression stayed the same.  
The physical was hard for her, as she hated people touching her, but the stitches on her forehead were okay. Natasha had squeezed her hand and told her she was brave. Wanda didn’t think so. It was just stitches; she had been through a lot worse.  
Dr. Cho decided that she was going to keep Wanda in the hospital for a few more hours, just to monitor her and make sure she was hydrated. Natasha stayed with her the whole time. Pepper had brought down a stuffed horse and a few books for her to read, and it seemed to keep her as occupied as she could be.  
Wanda took the stuffed toy and held it on her lap. She smiled slightly but realized Nat was watching her.  
“Do you like it?” Nat asked, smiling. It was forced. All Nat wanted to do was hug Wanda, tell her everything was going to be alright. Before the interaction with the toy, she had forgotten how young Wanda was.  
“What is her name?” Wanda asked, pointing to the door. Pepper had just left after checking on her for the second time.  
“That’s Pepper. Remember Tony? On the Quinjet? That’s his girlfriend.”  
Wanda nodded. Tony was funny and Pepper was very nice.  
“When can I leave?” Wanda asked. She wanted to stand up.  
“Not until Dr. Cho says you can. Natasha picked up one of the books. Do you like to read? Pepper brought a few books down for you.”  
“I don’t know how to read in English. Only talk. The letters are different than in Sokovia.”  
Nat smiled. “My first language is Russian, it’s a lot like Sokovian. It took me a while to learn the English alphabet too, but I can teach you sometime. I can just read to you if you’d like.”  
Wanda nodded, but she felt bad. She didn’t want Natasha to feel like she had to stay here with her. She could take care of herself, even if she didn’t want to.  
“Thank you, but you know you don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to, right?” Wanda said quietly.  
Natasha pulled her eyes up from the pile of books.  
“Do you want me to leave?”  
“No!” Wanda said rather quickly. She internally scolded herself. That sounded too eager and desperate.  
“Okay, then I want to be here too.” Nat smiled. Wanda was glad she felt that way.  
“There’s the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, another one called Black Beauty. Wanda’s eyes lit up. It had a horse, just like the one Pepper had brought her.  
“There’s also-“  
“That one, with the horse on it. Sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Wanda scolded herself again. She was letting Natasha see too much of the real her. Before her mama and papa and Pietro died from the war.  
Nat laughed. “It’s okay, Wanda. Black Beauty it is.”


	3. Chapter 3

Eventually, after reading for half an hour or so, Wanda fell asleep once again out of pure exhaustion. Nat sat at the end of the bed, watching the poor child sleep. Anyone who didn’t know Wanda would think it was peaceful, but if she was anything like Nat, her mind was probably plagued with awful thoughts and dreams.  
Natasha got up and stretched. Her feet were asleep from sitting on the end of the hospital bed for so long. She brushed a few hairs out of Wanda’s eyes and headed over to the window. It was June, and the sky was beautiful.  
There was a small knock on the glass door, interrupting Nat’s thoughts. It was Clint and Tony.   
Nat glared at them as Tony opened up the door with a creak. She gestured her head over to the sleeping Wanda in the hospital bed.  
“Sorry,” Tony whispered. “I have a few things to discuss with you. How’s the baby witch?”  
Nat smiled weakly.   
She’s getting better, opening up a little more. What do you need?”  
Tony and Clint quietly made their way over to the window with Nat. It was far enough away from the bed that they could whisper without waking up the sleeping child a couple of meters away.  
Clint handed Natasha a stack of papers. “These are government legal forms to be Wanda’s guardian. They’re yours to sign if you want to.”  
Natasha took the forms and uncapped the pen, immediately starting to read the papers.  
Tony interrupted her thoughts.   
“Are you sure about this, Widow? I don’t think the Avengers compound is a place for a kid.”  
Nat sighed and put down the papers.  
“She’s not just any kid, Tony. She’s special. She’s got powers. She’s been through things nobody would understand except me.”  
Nat paused, looking a few feet over to Wanda. She hadn’t even stirred in her sleep since Clint and Tony arrived.  
“She reminds me so much of me when I was a kid. I would’ve given anything to have escaped the red room and just had a normal childhood. Gone to school, made friends. I never got any of those things because my childhood was taken away from me. And if it wasn’t for us, hers would be too.”  
Tony smiled weakly.  
“I knew there would be no talking you out of this. When you’ve got your mind set on something, there’s no turning you around. Is she warming up to you, at least?”  
Nat nodded.   
“She’s very shy, and everything scares her, especially too many people in the room at once. Dr. Cho had to limit the room to just me, her, and her assistant, and it still made Wanda nervous. I think it will take a while for her to get used to everyone at the compound. You know Steve, Banner, even you guys. You can be pretty overwhelming sometimes.”  
Clint chuckled, and his smile turned to a pondering one for a moment.  
“Hey, I’ve got a really good idea. I’m going to visit Laura and the kids tomorrow; I’ll probably be there for a week. Why don’t you and Wanda come with us?”  
Nat shook her head.  
“Clint, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Laura just had a baby, and don’t you want to spend time with your family? Plus, I know she doesn’t mean it, but Wanda still could get scared and hurt someone. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt someone. You should’ve seen her try to apologize to me for reading my mind. It was heartbreaking.”  
Nat lowered her eyes to her hands on her lap.  
“Nat, it will be good for her. It’s remote, away from any triggers, and she can get used to being around only a few people at a time instead of a group of big men.”  
“Are you sure you’re okay with her being around Lila, Cooper, and Nate? I know she would never do it on purpose, but there’s still a chance she could-“  
Clint interrupted her, putting a hand on her shoulder.  
“She’ll be fine, Nat. It will be good to introduce her to children her own age. We’ll take it slow.”  
Nat thought for a moment before looking up and nodding her head.  
“Yeah. Okay, I think you’re right. We can work our way up from the farm, and then bring her back to the compound.”  
Tony stood up. “Good thinking, mama bear. Always do what’s best for baby witch,” He patted her shoulder. “There will be lots more of that to come.”  
They turned to leave, but Tony had one more question.  
“What about school, clothes, toys?” Don’t you need to go shopping?”  
“I already have it covered. Pepper picked up some essentials for her a few hours ago. It will be enough to last the week. As for school, it’s only June. I’m going to spend the summer teaching her how to control her powers better, and maybe some basic academics.”  
Tony laughed. “Academics sounds like she’s going into a four-year honors program at an ivy league school. Teach her how to read, maybe some 2+2, she’ll be fine. What grade is she going into, anyway?”  
Nat shrugged.   
“I don’t know, maybe grade 2 or 3?”  
Tony’s eyes widened. “That young, huh? Well, that’s even less work, I guess. I’ll see you two later then.”  
He turned to Wanda and waved.  
“Bye, baby witch!” He whispered.  
Nat rolled her eyes and Clint laughed, but he stopped when he noticed Nat’s new worried expression.  
“Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”  
Clint squeezed her shoulder.  
“You always do, Nat. You always do.”  
He left the hospital room with a smile.  
“Leave tomorrow, around noon?”  
Nat nodded.  
“Alright, I’ll see you then.”  
\---  
Nat didn’t expect Wanda to wake up calmly, but she definitely didn’t expect her to wake up so startled, especially since she had been sleeping so peacefully when Clint and Tony came by.  
Around fifteen or so minutes later, she began to stir slightly, small tendrils of magic circling her body. Nat wanted to wake her up, she was clearly dreaming uneasily, but she didn’t want to accidentally get hurt. Not for her sake, but for Wanda’s sake. If Wanda hurt Nat again, they would be back to square one.  
Eventually, the stirring turned to thrashing and screaming, and Nat had no choice but to wake her from the nightmare.  
She hurried over, shaking her slightly.  
“Wanda, wake up milaya.” She didn’t wake up.  
Nat shook her harder this time, and instead of whispering, she raised her voice just a bit.  
“Wanda! Davay, Milaya. Prosypaysya!” She said in Russian, hoping that the familiarity of a language so similar to hers could wake her out of her trance.  
It did, and Wanda woke up with a startling yell. The book and the horse went flying across the room, surrounded by red magic. Natasha was glad it wasn’t her.  
“Hey! It’s okay, Wanda.” She cautiously reached her hands out to hug the girl.  
Surprisingly, the little girl accepted the embrace, finally realizing where she was.  
“It was just a nightmare, sweetie. You’re okay.”  
“I-I’m sorry.” Wanda managed to say through her sobs. She was shaking.  
“You don’t have to apologize, honey. Do you remember where you are?” Nat asked. Also being a victim of a nightmare here or there, she knew that she would sometimes wake up and forget where she was.  
“At your house, right? In the hospital?”  
Nat squeezed her in a hug.   
“That’s right, sweetie. And it’s your home now too, okay?”  
Wanda nodded.  
“That’s good. I want to stay with you.”  
Nat smiled against her hair.  
“I’m glad. Now, do you want to tell me what you were dreaming about? Sometimes it helps to talk about it, you know.”  
Wanda paused for a moment.   
“Pietro is dead, right?” She said sadly.  
Nat sighed against her head, holding her closer.  
“Yeah honey, he is. But not in your heart, okay?” she pointed to Wanda’s chest.  
“He’s in there now. All of the memories you have of him. They’ll be with you forever.”  
Wanda nodded, hugging Natasha. Natasha was taken aback but nonetheless hugged the girl back with just as much enthusiasm. The poor kid longed for physical touch, probably because she barely remembered what her life was like before Strucker’s lab.  
After a few minutes, Wanda’s crying subsided. They sat in silence, other than a sniffle here and there from little Wanda.  
Nat broke the silence.  
“What would you think about going to Clint’s home for a while? He’s got a little girl your age, you know. And a boy about ten, and a new little baby.”  
Wanda turned her head to Nat rather quickly.  
“Will you come with me? You promised not to leave me.”  
“Yes, yes of course milaya! Of course, I’m coming!”  
Wanda sighed in relief, but her eyes quickly turned to panic again.  
“I don’t want to. What if I hurt them? Or scared them?”  
Nat smiled reassuringly. “You won’t, sweetie. We will take it slow, and ill be with you every step of the way. And knowing Lila, that’s Clint’s daughter, she will be so excited to have an Avenger as her friend.”  
Wanda smiled, a real one this time. “I’m an Avenger?”  
Nat smiled back.   
“Sweetie, you helped save everyone from Ultron. You were so brave.”  
“Is Pietro an Avenger too, then? He helped save the world.” Wanda timidly asked.  
Nat pulled her off the bed. Dr. Cho had said she was free to go when she was sleeping. Nat had been waiting for her to wake up.  
“Of course, Pietro is an Avenger, Wanda. He was just as brave as any of us.” Nat sadly smiled. She thought back to finding little Pietro’s body sprinkled with bullet wounds.  
Wanda grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the memory. She was so glad Wanda never saw the body.  
“Can I have something to eat, Natasha?”  
Nat was surprised. She tried to hide her confusion. How could she so easily change subjects? Her eyes landed on the little girl down at her side.  
That’s why. She thought. Because she’s only a child.  
“Of course, milaya. Let’s head to the kitchen.”  
They left the hospital wing without turning back, Wanda skipping mindlessly in front of her.


	4. Chapter 4

“Cereal or…. cereal?”   
It was the next morning, and Natasha stood at the cupboard in the common room kitchen. Her hair was knotted in a messy bun, and she was still wearing pajamas; one of Steve’s hoodies, and a pair of workout shorts.  
The rest of the day yesterday went smoothly, that was until nighttime came along. Wanda and Nat stayed together, and they didn’t see anyone else for the rest of the night, which was a good thing for Wanda, but it definitely wasn’t on purpose. Everyone else was still tired from the huge battle and probably spent the day in their respective rooms catching up on sleep or work. The pair spent the rest of the day watching cartoons, eating dinner, and walking around the compound. At night, however, Wanda couldn’t fall asleep. Natasha stayed with her the whole night and watched more tv until Wanda fell asleep at three am due to pure exhaustion. That morning, at around seven, Natasha woke up to feet padding on the hardwood floor, and the two of them made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast.  
Wanda was sitting at the kitchen table, swinging her legs mindlessly as they didn’t even touch the ground. She was sporting purple pajamas with small butterflies that Pepper had bought her the day before. When Nat noticed them, her heart broke. She kept forgetting how young of a child she really was.  
Nat poured her and Wanda a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice each and sat down at the table.  
Wanda had been quiet this morning. Natasha was sure she felt guilty for the lack of sleep last night, which she didn’t need to be. Nat had a hard time falling asleep almost every night. She had enjoyed Wanda’s company in her room with her.  
Wanda ate her cereal slowly, and Nat studied her without it looking too obvious. Her hair was matted, despite the fact she had a medical shower yesterday to remove the blood and metal pieces from the battle. She was clean, but pale and thin, and her eyes glossy and far away.  
Nat changed the subject.  
“How do you like it?”  
Wanda’s head shot up from the cereal bowl.   
“It’s good. “  
She picked out a marshmallow from the Lucky Charms.  
“Is this candy?”  
Nat laughed.  
“Kids like sugar, and I don’t just mean kids your age. It’s Steve’s favorite cereal, and he’s 97.”  
Wanda smiled, but it never reached her eyes. The poor girl was bothered by something, and Nat was determined to get it out of her.  
“He’s 97? He doesn’t look old.”  
Nat chuckled again. “He was frozen in ice for seventy years. So I guess he’s technically only 27. Either way, he still acts like a child.”  
Nat put her spoon down and took Wanda’s hand. She was jumpy, and tried to pull away, but Nat didn’t let go.  
“Is something bothering you this morning, milaya?”  
Wanda shrugged, refusing to meet her eyes.  
“You know you can tell me anything, right Wanda. I’m your family now honey.”  
Wanda looked up.   
Family. That was new.   
“Why aren’t you mad at me for last night, Nat?”  
Nat was confused. “Why would I be mad at you? Because you couldn’t sleep?”  
Wanda nodded. She was so innocent. “I’m sorry, you were probably so tired, and I kept you up all night.”  
Natasha smiled. “Sweetie, I can barely get to sleep on a regular night, much less the night after we saved the world. My door is always open. You can sleep with me any night. I promise I don’t mind.”  
Wanda nodded, getting up and hugging Natasha.  
“You’re so nice to me,” Wanda said into her shoulder. “Why?”  
Nat pulled away, looking into her eyes. “Because I’m human, Wanda. Those people at Hydra, what they did to you and your brother. They are evil. They’re monsters. Anyone who would treat you or any child with anything less than kindness isn’t human.”  
“Thank you, Natasha.”  
“Anytime, kiddo.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes, but her Nat’s fingers got tangled in the ends of Wanda’s hair.”  
“Why don’t I do your hair for you? I could give you a nice braid or something if you’d like.” Wanda nodded, standing at the table while Nat ran to the bathroom to grab a brush. She was gone for less than two minutes, but Wanda still found herself scared to be by herself. Her eyes darted around the room, scanning for potential danger.  
“Here, come sit down.”  
Nat said, patting the stool.  
She took her time, brushing Wanda’s hair. It took a while to get all the knots out. The child probably hadn’t brushed her hair in forever.  
Eventually, after around twenty minutes or so, Wanda sported two long French braids. She padded into the nearest bathroom and took a look, smiling- one that actually reached her eyes this time.  
“Sometimes,” Wanda said quietly to Natasha, who was standing in the doorway. “I remember when my Mama used to do my hair like this. It was a long time ago and I don’t really remember her or Papa that much but get a small memory once in a while I think.”  
Nat smiled sadly. She didn’t really know what to say to the poor girl.  
Nat opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by Steve and Clint entering the kitchen. They were sweaty and hyper, probably still on a post-workout high.  
“Hey!” Steve said, staring at the empty cereal box. “Who ate the Lucky Charms?”  
Nat grabbed Wanda’s hand and gently pulled her out of the bathroom back to the kitchen.   
Wanda kept hold of Natasha’s hand, hiding behind her slightly. Her eyes somewhat glowed red, showing she was defensive.  
“Steve, I can’t remember if you’ve met Wanda, but here she is. She’s going to be living with me from now on.” Nat crouched to Wanda, who still held a death grip on her hand, however, any sign of red quickly diminished from her eyes. “It’s okay, milaya. Steve is my friend.”  
Steve walked over. “Hi baby witch, it’s nice to finally meet you.” It was a nickname the whole crew had taken from Tony, even though most of them hadn’t met Wanda yet. “And for the record, you can eat my Lucky Charms any day.”   
Wanda smiled shyly. Nat pulled a chair out from the table and she took it cautiously.  
Clint snatched a banana from the fruit bowl.   
“So, Wanda. Did Nat tell you about the little trip we are going on?”  
Wanda nodded. She had forgotten all about the farm until now.  
“Lila, my daughter, is going to be so excited to meet you. She will be ecstatic to have someone her age around, even if it’s just for a little while.”  
Wanda was confused. “Ecstatic?” She asked. She didn’t know what the word meant.  
Nat internally smiled. She had thought that Wanda wouldn’t even make a peep around the boys, especially Steve whom she just met. She was making so much progress despite the fact she had only gotten there a day ago.  
“It means overly excited.”  
Wanda nodded.  
Steve got up after finishing his bowl of cheerios.  
“Well, I’m headed to do some more training,” He said, putting his bowl in the sink. “It was nice to meet you, baby witch. Have fun at the farm, Nat.”  
He left with a smile and a wave, and Clint stood up too.  
“I’ll have fun too, Steve!”  
Wanda and Nat laughed at Clint’s comment.  
“I should probably go pack and shower. Are you guys still okay with leaving at noon?”  
Nat looked at the clock. It was almost nine.  
“Yeah, that should be fine. We’ll meet you on the Quinjet then.”  
“Alright then.” Clint turned to Nat. “And I’m sure Steve would appreciate one last goodbye.”  
Nat rolled her eyes, her only response to Clint’s comment. She got up, reaching for Wanda’s hand.  
“Come on, milaya. We’d better go pack too.”  
Wanda got up.  
“If Steve will miss you so much when you’re gone, why doesn’t he just come with you?” Wanda asked innocently. Clint choked on his way to the elevator.  
“Because he’s not invited. The purpose of going to the farm is for some peace and quiet, not to bring as many people as possible.”  
Clint laughed again and whispered into Wanda’s ear, loud enough so Nat could hear too.  
“Nat secretly wishes he could come. She will miss him too.”  
Nat blushed, something she never did. She was pretty good at hiding her emotion. She smacked him playfully.   
“Shut up, Barton. Come on, Wanda. This is our floor.” They got off on the third floor.   
“I thought you lived on the fourth floor?”  
Wanda asked, looking back to the elevator.  
“Coward!” Clint yelled, laughing as the doors to the elevator shut.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'd just like to take a minute to thank my beta reader! She probably won't see this as my story has originally been posted to Fanfiction.net, but of course, I still have to credit her with her awesome help! So if you see this, you know who you are! Thank you!

“What if they’re scared of me?”  
The Quinjet was parked in a back cornfield of the Barton Farm. Clint had already left to greet his family, however, Wanda hesitated at the door off the plane.  
“Wanda, they won’t be. I can promise you that Lila and Cooper are so excited to meet you. Laura has been texting me non-stop that those kids have been bouncing off the walls.”  
Wanda didn’t know what that meant, but she wasn’t in the mood to ask. She assumed that by Nat’s tone of voice it meant something good.  
Wanda shoved her hands into Nat’s red leather jacket she was wearing. She insisted on keeping it on over top of her T-shirt and shorts, even though it was thirty degrees outside.  
“Do they know I have powers? That I hurt you and the rest of the Avengers? I don’t think they’ll want to play with me if they know what I did.”  
Nat took her hand. “Laura has talked with them. They know your story, probably not in full details, but it definitely hasn’t changed the fact that they want to meet you so badly.”  
Wanda nodded.  
Just as they were about to leave the plane, a small girl peeked her head around the corner.  
She was wearing a pink sundress with cowboy boots, and she too had French braids in her hair.  
“Auntie Nat!” She bounded towards Natasha, and Wanda took a hazardous step back. She really didn’t trust anyone, not even a little girl her age.  
“Hi, Lila!” She picked the little girl up in her arms and spun her around. Lila laughed.  
“Wanda, this is Lila, Clint’s daughter,” Nat said, putting Lila back on the ground.  
Wanda smiled shyly, hesitantly stepping up in front of Nat, who put her hands on her shoulders.  
“Hi, Wanda! Do you want to come and see all of the animals? We have chickens and dogs and even ponies!”  
Wanda smiled. “You have horses?”  
“Yeah! Let’s go, come on!” Lila grabbed her hand to pull her away, but Nat stopped her. Wanda was thankful.  
“Woah, Lila. I know you’re excited, but don’t you think she should meet your mom and brothers first?”  
Lila pouted.  
Nat grabbed Wanda’s hand and they walked off the ramp together, with Lila running ahead.  
“Mommy! Cooper! They’re here!” Lila said, running to Laura, who had baby Nate in her arms.  
Laura handed Nathaniel to Clint and jogged over to Nat.  
“I missed you!” Laura said to Nat. Wanda felt awkward standing off to the side. As Nat replied and they had their boring adult conversation, Wanda took a moment to look around. There was a white farmhouse and a barn, and a pasture off to the side. In the pasture were a few horses. One was a little pony, and the others were bigger. Wanda caught herself smiling at them.  
Nat snapped her out of her thoughts.  
“Wanda, this is Laura, Clint’s wife.” She pointed to a boy a few years older than her. He had dark hair and a bright, friendly smile. “And this is Coop!”  
She gave a quiet and timid hello and turned her attention back to the horses nearby.  
Nat gave a small smile to Laura. She’s getting there. She mouthed to Laura and Cooper. They nodded, understanding.  
Lila appeared at Wanda’s side.  
“Do you want to go and see all of the animals now? We can start with the horses!” Lila had so much excitement, it scared Wanda. Quite frankly, all she wanted to do was keep hold of Nat’s hand and stare at the horses from a distance, but clearly, both Lila and Nat had other ideas.  
“Go on, milaya. Lila won’t bite. I’ll be right here.”  
Wanda nodded, and Lila grabbed Wanda’s hand and pulled her towards the fence.  
Nat watched them from a distance, as Lila enthusiastically pointed to each horse, giving their names. Every so often, as Lila chatted her ear off, Wanda’s attention diverted back to Nat. She kept checking to see if she was there; that she hadn’t left her.  
Laura turned Nat’s attention from Wanda back to her.  
“So, what’s her story? Clint tried to fill me in, but he didn’t seem to know very much.”  
Nat sighed. “Her parents died when she was very young. I don’t know how young, she never said, but she said she doesn’t really remember them. The twins were captured by Hydra for experiments. She’s got the power to control minds and move objects. Her brother had super speed, but Clint probably told you what happened to him.  
Laura frowned. “Yeah, that’s horrible. Poor Wanda. How is she doing?”  
Nat filled her in on Wanda’s personality. “She’s painfully shy, but she’s starting to open up. I can’t even imagine what she went through at Hydra. If it was anything like the red room, then she’s doing better than I ever did.”  
Nat and Laura watched Wanda look back for the fifth time in five minutes. Nat gave her an enthusiastic wave. Wanda had barely enough time to wave back before Lila was showing her how to feed grass to the ponies.  
“She seems to really like you, huh?”  
Nat smiled. “I think she just prefers females. All the people at Hydra were men, especially the doctors. She was so afraid of Banner, we had to have him leave the lab when we gave her a physical.”  
Laura shook her head. “Give yourself some credit, Tasha. You’ve got a potential bond forming with that kid. She feels safe with you, I can tell.”  
Nat looked back over at her. “She reminds me so much of me as a kid.”  
Lila waved them over, and Nat and Laura made their way to the fence.  
“How do you like the ponies, Wanda?”  
Wanda climbed off the fence from where she was petting the bigger horse. Natasha was surprised she wasn’t scared of them. She was scared of almost everything.  
“I like them.” Wanda beamed. She was about to say something else, but Lila interrupted.  
“Do you want to try riding one? I can show you how, Wanda!” Lila bounced. “Please mommy, can I?”  
Laura looked to Nat, who looked to Wanda.   
“I don’t know how. What if I fall off, or get scared and hurt him with my magic or something?”  
Lila shook her head, laughing. Wanda was so surprised Lila could be so comfortable around a girl like her.   
“First of all, it’s a she. Second, all you have to do is sit on top of her. Auntie Nat can hold the lead rope. She used to take care of the horses sometimes when she visited here.”  
Wanda was surprised. Natasha didn’t seem like an animal person, much less a horse one.  
Nat crouched down to Wanda and Lila’s level.  
“Wanda, you don’t have to if you don’t feel comfortable. But it is easy, we can take it slow.”  
Wanda nodded.   
“Okay, but can I watch Lila first?”  
Lila cheered, and Wanda found herself instinctively raising her hands to her ears to get rid of the noise.  
Laura and Nat glared at Lila. She lowered her head.  
“Sorry. Okay, let’s go!”   
In fifteen minutes or so, Lila was on top of her horse, a white mare named Nelly. She kicked the horse forward, and she barely moved, plodding along slowly. Wanda thought it seemed easy enough, plus she wouldn’t even have to control Nelly; Nat would lead her around for her.  
“Okay, Wanda, your turn!” Lila said, hopping off with some help from Laura. She took her helmet off and handed it to Wanda. Nat helped buckle it up for her.  
“Are you ready, sweetie?”   
“Yeah, I think so,” Wanda said. She took her jacket off and put it on the fence.  
“Can I lift you up onto Nelly?”  
Wanda nodded and Nat lifted her onto the saddle. The stirrups didn’t quite reach her feet. She was a little shorter than Lila.  
“What do you think, milaya?”  
It wasn’t as high as she thought. Wanda barely had to look down at Nat, who stood beside Nelly with the lead rope in hand.  
“Can I walk forward?” Nat asked. Wanda nodded, and they slowly walked. Nat grinned. Wanda was beaming, a smile bigger than one she had ever had before. It made Nat’s heart so happy to see Wanda having so much fun.  
They went a few steps forward and Nelly stopped suddenly, lowering her head too much on some grass. Wanda laughed; the first true laugh she heard since she met her. Nat laughed too.  
“Come on Nelly.” She pulled the lead rope. “You’re so lazy!” Wanda giggled as they made their way back to Laura and Lila.  
“How did you like it, Wanda? Lila ran to meet them, and Nat helped her off the horse.  
“I loved it! I want to go again!”  
Nat chuckled, squeezing her shoulder.  
“Maybe later, Wanda. You have all week.” Wanda nodded.  
Laura took Nelly from Nat. “Why don’t you three go on into the house. There are some muffins on the counter. I’ll put Nelly back out into the pasture.”  
“Bye Nelly! See you tomorrow!” Wanda called after Nelly.  
“Bye Wanda! It was nice to meet you, new friend!” Nat answered back high- pitched, giving Nelly a fake voice.   
Lila and Wanda squealed with laughter.  
“What?” Nat said, returning to her original voice. She crossed her arms and looked away. “That wasn’t me.”  
The three of them headed inside, with Lila and Wanda chatting a few paces in front of Natasha. Nat felt a smile turn the corners of her lips upward. Wanda still had a long way to come, but it was like night and day from the shocked little girl on the Quinjet the morning before.  
\---  
When they got inside, Clint and Cooper were in the kitchen, preparing dinner. Baby Nate was in a cradle, sleeping off to the side.  
“Did you ride one of the horses, Wanda?” Cooper said, hopping off the bar stool. Wanda flinched at the sudden movement but quickly relaxed.  
Lila answered before Wanda could get her answer out.  
“She rode Nelly, and really liked it, right Wanda?”  
“Why don’t you let Wanda answer for herself, milaya?” Nat gently scolded Lila. Wanda felt a pang of jealously that she almost immediately brushed off. That was her nickname.  
“Yeah, I liked it. I’ve never been on a horse before.”  
Clint laughed. “Well, now you can say you have.”  
Lila three muffins off the table and handed one to Nat and Wanda.  
“Can I show Wanda my bedroom?”  
Wanda looked up to Nat.  
“Of course, I’ll be right here.”  
Wanda nodded. Nat was starting to be able to know exactly what she was thinking.  
Lila and Wanda headed up the stairs to her bedroom.  
Wanda thought the room was amazing, nothing like she’d ever seen before. It was painted purple, and everything matched. She had toys lined up everywhere. Stuffed animals on shelves, dolls in toy boxes, and even a small toy farm set up in the corner. Wanda took it all in.  
“I like your bedroom, Lila.” Wanda gave a small chuckle, slightly in awe. “You have lots of toys.”  
Lila smiled proudly. “Come here, I have something really funny to show you.”  
They walked over to the other side of the room. Underneath the window were a dozen or so Barbie dolls, all set up in a row. Lila plucked a few of the dolls out of the line. They were all doll versions of the Avengers.  
“This one is my daddy, and here is Captain America, Iron Man, Falcon, and look!” She showed her the only woman in the group. “Here’s auntie Nat as a barbie.”  
Wanda laughed. The doll’s facial features actually sort of looked like her, in doll form of course. The hair was a bit shorter but other than that it actually looked like Nat. So did the Hawkeye, Captain America, and the rest of them.  
“That is funny. Imagine being so famous that you are turned into a doll?”  
Lila laughed. “Maybe you’ll get turned into a Barbie one day, too. My daddy told me you helped save them.”  
Wanda shrugged. Nat and Clint told her that too, but she really just saw it as making up for causing them so much pain and grief.  
A moment later, a knock was at the door, and the rest of the family entered Lila’s room.  
“Wow, Lila,” Nat said, taking a seat on the end of the bed. “Your room has changed a lot since I came here last. It looks nice.”  
Thanks,” Lila said, taking a seat beside her. “Daddy let me and Cooper change our rooms up a few months ago. We got to choose new paint colours and everything.”  
Lila bounded off the bed again.  
“So, what have you guys been up to up here?” Laura asked. Clint walked in too.  
Wanda showed Nat the dolls of all the Avengers. “Look,” She said shyly, handing the dolls to Nat. “It’s you!”   
Natasha chuckled. “What? That doesn’t look like me! Or Steve, or Tony, or you’re dad for that matter. She said to Lila. Nat held the Clint doll up, a confused look plastered to her face. “I don’t see the resemblance.”  
“Hey! Clint said, snatching his doll. I think it looks like me!”  
Nat shook her head. “That doll is better looking than you, and that’s not saying much.” She turned to Laura, laughing.   
“Where did you buy these?”  
Laura shrugged. “Santa brought them last Christmas.” She gave a wink.  
Lila collected all the dolls, setting them back up in a line. “We are going to play wedding. Auntie Nat, who do you want to get married to?” Lila held up all the male dolls. She pulled out Clint, throwing him on the other side of the bed.  
“Maybe treat your dad with a little more respect than that,” Nat said, laughing.  
Wanda pulled out the Captain America doll, handing it to Lila.  
“Here, she wants to get married to Steve.”  
Lila laughed. “Perfect.”  
Nat went red. “No! Maybe I want to get married to this one? He’s much better looking than Steve.” Nat plucked a generic blonde doll out of the pile.  
“I highly doubt that!” Cooper called from the hallway.  
Wanda shook her head. “No. Steve.” It was that simple.  
Meanwhile, Laura and Clint were laughing their heads off.  
Nat sighed. This family was going to be the death of her.


	6. Chapter 6

It was their last day at the Barton farm, and Nat was so proud of Wanda’s progress. She had become more talkative increasingly every day, and she was even gaining more independence. Her nightmares had become increasingly shorter every night, although she still hadn’t slept by herself yet.  
Because Wanda and Nat were leaving the next morning, Lila insisted on having a “sleepover” inside her room, and Wanda didn’t want to. But she didn’t want to upset Lila, so she ignored Nat’s protest, saying she didn’t have to, and stayed with Lila. They had talked for a while, laughing and giggling, until they had gotten tired.  
Well, until Lila got tired.  
Wanda laid on the makeshift bed that Laura had made for her, wide awake, until she was sure Lila was asleep. She didn’t want to wake Lila up, mainly because she didn’t want Lila to see she was acting like a baby. She got up as quietly as she could, heading down the hall towards Natasha’s room. Wanda felt guilty for needing Natasha so much. But she was so afraid of losing her, like her mama, papa, and now her brother. She couldn’t lose Nat too, and the only way to make sure of it was to constantly be with her, reminding herself of her presence.  
The door creaked open, and Nat shot up out of the bed. Wanda cringed. She had hoped she wouldn’t have woken Natasha up, but it seemed like she wasn’t asleep anyways  
“Everything okay, Wanda?” Nat whispered, her voice full of concern. But she wasn’t surprised. Although she was tired, she kept herself awake for this reason. She knew Wanda would crawl into bed with her eventually, and Nat wanted to make sure she was awake for it.  
Wanda nodded. Nat could just make her outline in the dark. Her hands and eyes glowed red, the first time she had seen in a few days, and it gave off a dim scarlet light in the darkness.  
“What time is it?” Wanda asked. She played with the hem of her shirt.  
Nat looked at her phone. “It’s only one o’clock.”  
“I’m sorry I woke you,” Wanda said tiredly. Nat patted the space beside her on the bed and she crawled under the duvet.  
“You didn’t milaya. I was already awake.”  
Wanda curled into Nat’s chest. Her red eyes and hands slowly dissolved, leaving them in complete darkness. Nat stroked her hair, softly humming a Russian lullaby.  
Nat took a moment to get lost in her thoughts, which was no issue due to the repeated movements of stroking Wanda’s hair.  
What was she going to do? Eventually, she would have to go back on missions, Wanda would have to go to school. She couldn’t leave this poor girl all by herself when she’d been through so much.  
Chill, Natasha. It’s only been a week, Wanda has every right to be so attached. She’ll get over it eventually. She still has at least a few more weeks until I have to go back to work.  
Wanda’s breathing eventually slowed to even, rhythmic breaths, indicating she was fast asleep.  
\---  
That morning, Wanda woke up to an empty bed. A wave of panic almost instantly came over, and she shot up out of bed. Every day before, Wanda had been the first to wake up, but today, Nat wasn’t even in the room. She searched around, in the bathroom, kitchen, living room, but Nat, or Clint and Laura for that matter, were nowhere to be found. Tears pricked her red eyes, but she quickly blinked them away.  
Stop it, Wanda. You’re acting crazy. Nat has proven this past week that she would never leave you.  
Wanda couldn’t help it though. Her whole life, no one, other than Pietro, has ever cared about her. None that she could remember anyway. She couldn’t help but think Nat was the same as the rest, even though deep down in her heart she knew it wasn’t true.  
A shadow ran past the window outside, and she knew it was Cooper. A relief set into her. They were outside.  
Wanda quickly wiped away the stray tears that escaped and headed out. Nat was sitting on the porch swing with baby Nate, and Clint and Cooper were carrying the last of the bags back to the Quinjet.  
“You’re finally awake, milaya. How did you sleep?” Nat gave a quick smile to Wanda but looked back almost immediately.  
“Have you been crying?”  
Wanda played dumb. “No?”  
Nat didn’t believe her. Her voice was full of concern.  
“What’s wrong, milaya? Did you have a nightmare? Do you not want to leave? I’m sure the Barton’s wouldn’t mind if we stayed a few more days…”  
Wanda shook her head. “No, nothing like that.”  
Nat got up to put Nate in the baby swing. She sat back down, taking Wanda into her arms.  
“What’s wrong then, sweetheart?”  
“It’s dumb, and I’m fine now, so don’t worry about it okay?” Wanda mumbled into Nat’s sweatshirt.  
“Nothing is dumb, Wanda. You know you can tell me anything honey.”  
Wanda sighed, lifting her head. Nat’s eyes were so full of care and concern it made her feel even dumber to think that she would ever leave her.  
Wanda looked away. “Okay, but I’m telling you you’ll think it’s stupid.”  
Nat kissed her hair. “I highly doubt that.”  
“I know you always say that we’re a team and that you’ll never leave me, but sometimes I still get scared that I’ll be left alone again. And now that Pietro is gone forever, I’ll really be alone.”  
Nat hugged her tighter. She knew exactly what this was about, and she mentally kicked herself for not thinking about it sooner.  
“This is about me being gone this morning, isn’t it?”  
Wanda’s voice shook. “When I searched the room, and then the house, I kept trying to tell myself to stop acting like a baby, but I couldn’t help it. I’m sorry.”  
Wanda took a deep breath. Nat wanted to interrupt her, but she just kept on rambling.  
“I’m trying to be better, I really am. I hate acting like this. I used to be brave and strong and be able to fight for myself. And now I can’t even sleep by myself.”  
Nat felt like her heart broke into a million different pieces.  
“Wanda…You’re eight years old. You should never, ever have to feel like you need to fight for yourself. Right now, as a child, your job is to let me take care of you. I’m so sorry I scared you this morning, I wasn’t even thinking.”  
“You shouldn’t be sorry. You didn’t ask for me. I feel like a…” She couldn’t put the English word on it. “A… A ответственность.”  
“Wanda!” Nat cried. She had no idea the poor girl was feeling this way. “You are not a burden.  
That was it. A burden.  
“You have every right to feel scared all the time. But I want you to know that I will never leave you. I love and care about you more than anything. I’ll tell you every ten seconds if that’s what it takes to drill it into that little head of yours.”  
Wanda let out a pathetic chuckle.  
“You have been through more than a hundred people put together have been through. And don’t you worry. Within a few more weeks, you’ll feel better. Everything will start to feel normal again. I promise.”  
“I know, and I’m really sorry again Nat.”  
Nat gave her another squeeze.  
“You have nothing to be sorry for honey.” She kissed her forehead.  
“Now, why don’t you go get dressed. Lila wants to go for one last family hike before we leave.  
Wanda got up and stretched. “I don’t think I have any clean clothes left.”  
Nat laughed. She wished that was the least of their problems. “I’ll go find something on the Quinjet.” She held her hand out to Wanda. “Want to come to help me look?”  
Wanda shook her head. “I can stay here with Nate. As long as you promise to come back.”  
Nat gave a sad smile. “I promise milaya.”  
Nat started to walk away, but Wanda stopped her, wrapping her little arms around her waist.”  
“Thank you, Nat. I love you.”  
Nat’s heart jumped into her throat, and tears pricked her eyes. This kid was turning her soft.  
“I love you too, milaya. I’ll be right back.”  
She headed towards the Quinjet.  
Clint spotted her a few feet away. He could’ve sworn Nat was teary-eyed. It was the first time he’d seen her cry in a really, really long time. Actually, come to think of it, it was the first time he’d ever seen her cry.


	7. Chapter 7

“What do you think about going shopping today, Wanda? We need to get you some new clothes and some other things, and I think it would be good to show you around a bit.”  
It was the morning after Nat, Clint, and Wanda got back from the farm. The three of them, along with Steve, Tony, and Pepper, were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast.  
The farm had helped Wanda gain so much confidence, and she wasn’t nearly as nervous to be around the Avengers. They had even all watched a few episodes of Full House together last night. It was one of the sitcoms Wanda hadn’t seen before, and she had loved every minute of it. She stayed through the whole time they watched, and she didn’t even feel uncomfortable with everyone in the room.   
Wanda didn’t know how she felt about shopping though. She hadn’t been to the city in America yet, but from what she could tell on tv, New York was filled with people, and that made her nervous.  
“We could drive to a mall on the outskirts so that it wouldn’t be so busy.” Said Nat.  
Wanda looked around, staring at everyone individually. Steve stopped mid-bite of his Lucky Charms to playfully wink at her.  
“I know it might be a little scary, Wanda. But I think it would do you some good to see the city. Plus, I want you to be able to pick out your own things.” Nat continued, taking a swig of coffee. “What do you say? Maybe Pepper would like to come along?” Nat looked over to Pepper, who gave a guilty shake of her head.   
“Sorry guys. I’ve got meetings back-to-back all day.”  
“I could come along if you want.” Steve piped up, taking a swig of Clint’s orange juice, which reward him with a shove.  
“I haven’t been to a mall in ages, I forget what they look like. Plus, I’d do anything to ride in Nat’s Porsche.”  
They all laughed. Nat rolled her eyes.  
“Sure, I guess you can come. But we can’t take the Porsche. It doesn’t have room for a booster seat.”  
“I don’t need a booster seat!” Wanda protested. She had seen it on TV once. Something kids in America used to stay safe in the car. But she wasn’t that little, was she?  
Steve put his and Wanda’s bowls in the sink. He turned to Nat.  
“Firstly, what do you mean I guess,” he turned to Wanda. “Secondly, I already bought the booster seat Nat requested. It was very specific too. I think she was reading a mommy blog.” Clint and Tony busted out laughing, so did Nat.  
“I was not!” She smacked Steve on the arm. “Laura just gave me the name of the one Lila has.”  
Wanda pouted. She knew she deserved it sometimes, but she hated being treated like a baby.  
“Don’t worry, baby witch.” Clint noticed her facial expression. “Nat isn’t the only over-protective parent out there. Your Auntie Laura is still forcing Cooper into a booster seat. He barely even fits in it.”  
Wanda smiled at the Auntie Laura. She liked it, it made her feel a part of their family.  
“Okay. Can I get rain boots?”  
“Rain boots? Why?” Nat laughed. It was so random, considering she barely even had enough clothing.  
“Like on Full house. When they played outside in the rain.”  
Nat shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Anything else, in particular, you would want to get?” She wanted Wanda to be excited about this.  
Wanda shook her head.  
“Alright then,” She grabbed Steve’s keys off the wall, tossing them to him.  
“Let’s go, you’re driving Cap.”  
Steve laughed. “Yes, ma’am. Come on Wanda! Let’s beat Nat to the garage.”  
They ran out, with Nat rolling her eyes behind them.  
“You’re such a kid, Steve.” She muttered, laughing.  
\---  
Wanda didn’t remember the last time she was in a car. She had spent the whole week at the Barton’s without really leaving their property, except to go on family hikes. Before that, well, she was at HYDRA with Pietro, and she definitely didn’t get to ride in a car there.  
When they were all seated, Wanda waited for them to move, but they never did. Nat turned back to look at her.  
“Are you going to buckle your seatbelt?”  
“Seat belt?”  
“The strap beside your shoulder, just bring it over your body and click it in place. It took Wanda a few awkward moments, but she finally got it.  
After a few minutes into the ride, she had decided she didn’t particularly like it. It reminded her of the restraints at HYDRA, but Nat said it was the law, that its purpose was to keep her safe, so she didn’t complain.  
That’s what Strucker said at HYDRA, too.  
Wanda snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes flashing red for only a moment. She looked up at the rear-view mirror but was relieved to see neither Nat nor Steve was watching her. They were too caught up in their conversation about the Barton farm.  
Wanda focused on the passing trees and cars on the highway. She found it relaxing, how they were moving so fast, but she could barely see it. Nat noticed her amazement.  
“So, Wanda. How do you like Steve’s truck?”  
Wanda looked up. “I like it. I don’t remember ever riding in a car before. It’s fun.”  
Steve looked at her in the rear-view mirror. “I could go faster but Nat would probably kill me.”  
Wanda giggled. She liked Steve, he made her laugh.  
“Don’t you dare, Rogers,” Nat popped her sunglasses in the overhead compartment. “Imagine the officer’s face when they pull over Captain America for speeding. Besides, we are already here.”  
They pulled into a parking lot, which was thankfully not too busy. It was a weekday morning after all.  
“Don’t you think people will recognize you guys?” Wanda said, hopping out of the truck. She didn’t realise how far down the drop was, and she lost her balance.  
“Are you okay?” Steve hoisted her off the ground, and Wanda felt slightly embarrassed. Steve ignored it, answering her question from before.  
“I highly doubt it. Most people here on Tuesday afternoons are old people. Most times, people are too busy to even pay attention. Plus, without our uniforms, it's harder to draw attention.”   
That turned out to be, surprisingly to Wanda, very true. Not one person recognized Steve or Nat. Wanda also didn’t see any other kids her age around, which probably was the reason why. It was still mid-June, and she had overheard some older women talking about how it was the last week of school for New York City kids.  
The trio headed around each store, picking out some essentials that Wanda needed; clothing shoes, bedding, and of course, her rain boots.  
They headed into a Walmart, and Steve headed straight to the men’s clothing section. Wanda and Nat ran behind him, confused about why he was rushing.  
Steve sighed, putting his head in his hands. “I’m going to kill him. I am going to kill Tony Stark.  
“Why?” Wanda asked. Steve pulled away from the clothing rack to reveal a T-shirt. To Wanda, it looked like a typical Avenger’s T-Shirt. Most of the people back at the compound bought their merchandise as a joke, and this didn’t seem any different from the ones they had.  
It was a plain blue shirt that was supposed to look like Captain America’s uniform.  
“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” Nat said, holding up the shirt.   
Steve sighed. “Turn it around.”  
Nat howled with laughter. Wanda didn’t get it. On the back, it had some words on the bottom of the shirt. She took a moment to try and read it out loud, something Lila and Nat had been teaching her during their stay at the Barton Farm. It wasn’t as hard as she thought. Much like Sokovian, once she learned the letters and the sounds, it came easily, especially because it was her second language.  
“Auh-mer-ih-ca… America’s…Ass?” Wanda read it out loud, and Nat laughed even harder. Steve looked like he was ready to leave.  
“Who would want to buy that!” Wanda took it from Nat, getting a closer look.  
Steve huffed, putting it back on the rack.  
“About a month or so ago, Tony showed me his and Pepper’s new designs for Avenger’s merchandise. He promised me this one was supposed to be a joke. I can’t believe I thought he was telling the truth.”  
Steve tried to herd them away from the rack of clothing, but it didn’t work. Nat snagged a shirt, putting it into the cart.  
“You really thought I was going to leave without buying this?”  
Steve rolled his eyes. He knew he couldn’t talk her out of it.  
“Why you would want to waste your money on that garbage is beyond me, but be my guest.”  
Nat snorted. “The majority of the money is just going to go back to us anyways.”  
Steve took one last look at the rack of him and sighed. “Come on, let’s just go before I buy the whole thing to prevent other people from seeing them.”  
“You already know they’re going to be a hit, I don’t know why you’re even trying. People love America’s Ass.”  
Nat bent down, whispering into Wanda’s ear. “Do you dare me to wear this to supper tonight? Steve will die of embarrassment. It will be hilarious.”   
Wanda nodded, trying to hold in her laughter, but Steve noticed almost immediately.  
“Hey, what’s so funny?” He asked, grabbing two boxes of Lucky Charms from the passing aisle.  
Nat shook her head. “You will see, my friend. You will see.”

That night at dinner, Nat did in fact, stroll casually into the kitchen with the shirt on.  
At first, no one noticed, but Wanda gave it away. She went around the table to everyone individually as she set the table, as per Nat’s request. Wanda tried so hard to act normal, but Sam, Clint, and Tony noticed she was  
Steve noticed, narrowing his eyes at her playfully. “You are a little witch, aren’t you?” He said good-naturedly.   
Wanda gave a mischievous grin in answer. “Nat told me to do it.”  
“Uh-huh, of course she did,” Steve said flatly.  
After everyone sat down and started eating, Tony was the first one to mention the shirt.  
“I see you saw my newest addition to Steve’s Signature Collection.’”  
He turned to the rest of the table. “Buy them while they’re hot, only fifteen bucks at Walmart.”  
“Who wants to take a trip to Walmart with me tomorrow?” Sam asked the table.   
Everyone raised their hands, and Steve put his head down on the table.  
“Imagine they’re all sold out? That would be hilarious!” Clint said. Laughter filled the dining room from everyone except Steve. He did not think it was funny.  
\---

After dinner, Wanda and Nat washed the dishes. Wanda stood up on a chair to peer out the window at the ground below.  
“Look! It’s raining!”   
Nat looked down below at the street, where it was, in fact, a torrential downpour.  
“Can I take my new rainboots outside?”  
Nat shrugged good-heartedly.  
“I don’t see why not, but if it starts to thunder or lightning, we head straight back inside, deal?”  
Wanda hopped off the chair. “Deal!”  
Nat grabbed Steve’s raincoat from the closet. She handed Wanda her own from years ago when it rained on the 4th of July.  
They were just on their way out the door when Steve waltzed into the kitchen.  
“You guys do realise it’s pouring outside, right?”  
Nat pulled her boots on “What gave it away, Sherlock? Maybe the way we are dressed?”  
Steve rolled his eyes.  
“You should come with us.” Nat looked up, from her boots, smiling.  
“We’re going to jump in the puddles!” Wanda bounced on the spot. He couldn’t say no to that face.  
Steve laughed, turning to Nat. “So, you actually want me to come this time? No ‘I guesses?’” He mocked her.  
Nat chucked him a raincoat from the closet. “Shut up before I change my mind, Rogers.”  
Steve gave a mock salute. “Yes, Agent Romanoff.” He looked down. “By the way, you’re wearing my coat.”  
“So? I’m wearing your shirt too.” Nat said, raising her eyebrows.  
“I hope you get struck by lightning.”  
They all laughed, heading outside into the pouring rain.


	8. Chapter 8

“Come on, Wanda. You can do it.”  
It was two weeks later, and Nat was nearing the end of her break. She and Wanda spent the last week developing a routine, which consisted of catching up on schoolwork and training.  
Wanda sat cross-legged on the gym floor. Nat sat behind her. In front of Wanda were three steel boxes, and her goal was to stack them all on top of each other.  
When Nat said they were going to start training, Wanda was excited. However, she didn’t imagine it would be this hard.  
Ever since she discovered her powers years ago, she’s had absolutely no control. HYDRA always wanted her to be as reckless and violent as possible, and back then she had quickly learned to only do what they say. Because of that, she had only thought that the purpose of her powers was to inflict harm on others.  
Nat had shown her that wasn’t true. At first, she believed her, but the belief was quickly fading. Wanda realised it was easier to throw someone against the wall than it was to stack three boxes on top of each other.  
She lost focus, and the boxes fell with loud thumps. Wanda covered her ears.  
“Sorry, Nat.” She sighed, frustrated. “I lost focus again.”  
“It’s okay, milaya. Let’s try it again but with these.”  
She grabbed 3 cardboard boxes and replaced the metal ones.  
“This was harder than I thought it was going to be.”  
Nat put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I know, but you’ll get there. It just takes practice. Try these boxes instead.”  
Wanda concentrated. Her outreached hand glowed red, and so did the first box. It shot off the ground with so much force it hit the ceiling.  
Wanda groaned in irritation. She tried again with a little less power and managed to stack all three boxes.  
“I did it!” Wanda cheered. Her hand shot up in victory, and a ball of red flew out. Little bits of drywall fell from the ceiling.  
“Oops.” Her powers were so much harder to control after she’d been practicing for a while.  
Sam poked his head in from the office next door. Nat hadn’t realised they were making so much noise.  
“Everything okay in here?” Sam asked. He had an overnight bag slung over his shoulder.  
“Yeah, we’re just practicing control, right Wanda?” Nat asked. Wanda nodded.  
“Where are you going?”  
Sam leaned against the door frame. “Rhodey and I are going away for a few days. Apparently, there’s a warehouse in New Mexico storing illegal weapons. We’re going to check it out.”  
“Alright, well good luck. And keep in touch, alright? Let us know if you need back up.” Nat clapped his shoulder.  
Sam waved. “I always do. But I don’t think it’s anything too serious.” He turned to Wanda. “See you soon, baby witch.”  
Wanda waved back. “Bye Sam.”  
Nat disappeared into the storage room, and Wanda followed close behind. It was still rare to see her leave her side.  
“What are you looking for?” Wanda asked. She picked up a basketball and bounced it once.  
Nat rummaged through an assortment of gym equipment. It had been almost all unfamiliar to her until Wanda came to live with her. Alongside the regular things like weights and dumbbells, were sports equipment, skipping ropes, and frisbees. Where they came from, she had no idea, but she did know they hadn’t even been used since she had been here.  
Nat pulled out a huge tote bin bigger than Wanda and dragged it out onto the gym floor. She dumped it over, revealing a few dozen medium-sized dodge balls.  
“Alright. Your next challenge is to use your magic to put every ball back into the bin. But before you do that, I want to talk to you about something.” She motioned Wanda back onto the bench, where they both sat down.  
“You’ve probably noticed now that everyone has had their well-deserved break after Ultron, that things are starting to go back to normal.”  
Wanda gulped. She knew where this was going.  
“Very soon, I’m going to have to go back to work, you know that, right?”  
Wanda nodded, refusing to meet Nat’s eyes.  
“Most missions I go on will only be day ones, but that doesn’t mean that once in a while I’ll be gone for a night or two.”  
“I can come with you for those. I’ll try harder with my training, I can do better.”  
Nat sighed. “It’s not about that, milaya. You could have the best control ever, but I still wouldn’t put my child in danger. You don’t deserve that. And I’ll always come back, you know that.”  
Wanda nodded. She knew, but it didn’t mean she was okay with it.  
“Who will I stay with when you’re gone?”  
“Whoever is home with you. Steve, Pepper, and maybe you could even stay with the Barton’s on the overnight missions.” Nat tried to sound enthusiastic. She hated having to leave Wanda. But it was her job, duty, and obligation. Tony had given her more than enough time to get Wanda settled, and she was a strong girl. She could handle it.  
“When do you leave?” Wanda still refused to meet Nat’s eyes.  
Nat sighed. “I don’t know yet. But I am on call for available missions. I’ll try to start with a day mission, but I can’t promise anything, milaya.”  
Wanda felt a ball in her throat. She couldn’t cry. Not right now. I   
Nat touched her shoulder, and she shrugged it off.   
Nat bit her lip. Normally, Wanda was starving for physical comfort.  
“Everything okay, Wanda?”  
No response. She threw another dodge ball.  
“Wanda?”  
Wanda stood up, tears rimming her eyes.  
“I don’t want you to leave me! You promised you’d stay” Her voice cracked. Wanda instantly regretted what she had said. Nat had never promised she would stay. She had just promised that when she left, she would always come back. Wanda knew that.  
Regardless, it was a stab right to the heart for Natasha, Wanda saw it in her face.  
Wanda wanted to run away, but she couldn’t. She tried to blink away the tears. She’d shown too much weakness this past month. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her hands starting to glow. Wanda balled her hands into fists and put them behind her back. She couldn’t let Nat see the real her. A monster that was created in the lab out of pure evil.  
Wanda took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”   
Nat took a hold of her hands.   
“Wanda, you’re allowed to be angry with me. It’s not your fault, you can’t control the way you feel.”  
“I’m not angry, I’m just…” She looked away. “Scared.”  
Nat sighed. “I know. But you’re the bravest person I know, too.”  
Wanda’s head snapped back to Nat. She had not expected that.  
“I am? Why? You live with the Avengers.”  
“Because you’ve been through so much, milaya. More than all of us combined. And on top of that, you still find a way to keep going.”  
That was mainly because of the innocence of a child’s mind, but Nat obviously didn’t tell her that.  
“I’m sorry I yelled at you before.” Wanda looked down, staring at the ground. She took a moment to think before she continued. “I’ll be okay when you go back to work. As long as you promise to come back.”  
Nat pulled her onto her lap. “You don’t have to be sorry, milaya. And you know I promised I will always come back to you. I will never leave you forever. Just a day or two at most.”  
Wanda leaned into her shoulder. “I know.”  
“I know you’re not happy about me going back to work, but it will only be for a few more months. Once you go to school, you’ll barely even notice I’m gone.”  
Wanda completely forgot about school. A real school, with kids her age, teachers, and books. Just like on TV.  
“In the meantime,” Nat pulled her up off the bench. “I have something, or someone rather, to show you. Let’s take a break from training for today.”  
She tilted her head in confusion.   
“What do you mean who?”  
Nat reached for Wanda’s hand. “Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”  
They ended up at Tony’s workshop.  
“I’m sure you heard Tony talk about his new ‘intern.’ A kid whose got spider-powers or something, I don’t really know.”   
“Spider powers?”  
Nat scanned her key card. “Yeah, apparently he’s all over the news in Queens. A teenage kid who can swing from building to building, like a spider.”  
Wanda blinked. She didn’t know what an intern was. Or where Queens was. And she’d never heard Tony talk about a teenage spider once.  
“I’m just as confused as you are, Wanda. But he’ll be spending more time here at the compound, getting training from Tony, so Tony wanted us to come and meet him.”  
Wanda shifted from one foot to another. She didn’t like meeting new people.  
Nat squeezed her shoulder.  
“I know you don’t like strangers, but Tony thinks you’ll have fun with him. He’s only fourteen. Just a kid, too.”  
Wanda’s mood lightened a little. If Nat trusted Tony and this new kid, she guessed she did too. Plus, he was only a teenager.  
When they opened the doors to Tony’s workshop, it was definitely a scene of chaos.  
Someone was on the ceiling, shooting strings from his fingers, while Tony was hovering above a few feet off the ground in his Iron Man suit. It was definitely not something Wanda expected when she walked in.   
The boy dropped from the ceiling to the ground with very little grace. He brushed off and extended his hand.  
“Hi, Miss Romanoff. I’m Peter Parker! It’s so nice to meet you, I’m a huge fan.” Peter rambled, his voice cracking.  
Nat laughed, extending her hand out as well, although she was surprised. It was very rare to see such a young kid so polite.  
“Please,” She said, shaking his hand. “Just Natasha is fine, Peter.”   
She turned to Wanda, who still held a death grip on her other hand.  
“This is Wanda.”  
Peter held his hand out to Wanda, who hesitated to shake it.  
With some encouragement from Nat, she did, although weakly.  
“It’s nice to meet you, Wanda.” Peter smiled. He reminded Wanda of an older, male version of Lila. A lot of personality to handle, but fun to be around, nonetheless.  
Wanda looked up to the ceiling, where Peter had dropped down from moments before.  
“Were you…up there?” She asked shyly, pointing to the space above their heads.  
Peter nodded enthusiastically. “I have super sticky hands, like a spider. They don’t call me Spider-Man for nothing.” He said proudly.  
Tony sighed from the workbench. He lifted his helmet to roll his eyes.  
“No one calls you that, Parker.”  
Peter looked offended. “The news people do! I’ve adopted it as my cool new superhero name.”   
He leaped up to the ceiling, hanging down by his feet. Wanda laughed.  
“He’s a bit of a show-off, that one.”   
“Mr. Stark,” He yelled from the ceiling. “No offense, but I know a lot of people who would call you a show-off, too.”  
Nat laughed.  
Tony raised his hands in defense. “I guess your right kid.” He yelled back up to Peter.  
Tony turned to Nat and Wanda.  
“He’s not afraid of me, which is weird. Usually, people find me intimidating.”  
Nat scoffed. “Hardly.”  
Peter dropped to the ground again.  
“That’s cool. Strange, but cool.” Nat said.   
Wanda nodded her head in agreement.  
Peter turned to Wanda. “Mr. Stark tells me you have some pretty cool powers, Wanda. You’ll have to show me sometime.”  
She shrugged her shoulders and gave a small smile. She rarely ever voluntarily show people her powers, except for Nat of course, and occasionally Steve or Clint when they happened to be in the room while she was training.  
“Maybe.” She told him.  
Nat put her hand on Wanda’s shoulder, ready to say something, but her phone rang, interrupting her.  
“Hold, on. I’ll be right back, Wanda.” She stepped out into the hallway.  
“Hey, Nat. We’ve kind of got a problem.” It was Steve.  
“Okay,” She answered. “And it is?”  
Steve sighed. “Sam and Rhodey just called. They need back up from Clint, Tony, me, and you. Apparently, the ‘illegal weapons’ in New Mexico are actually a secret Hydra base.”  
Nat’s heart dropped to her stomach.   
“What do you mean?”  
“They’ve created another base. Sam and Rhodey have only been there for maybe half an hour. All they know is that the base is storing illegal weapons, and there’s a lot of people going in and out. This could be bad, Nat. Really bad.”  
Nat nodded, although Steve obviously couldn’t tell through the phone.  
“Okay, when do we leave?”   
“ASAP. You can’t tell Wanda what this mission is about. She’ll get too worked up. Besides, we should be back by tomorrow, anyway.”  
Nat let out a shaky breath. She really wished she didn’t have to leave immediately. This was going to be so overwhelming for Wanda.   
Steve picked up on her negative energy through the phone.  
“Wanda will be okay, Nat. We have to do this. If not for us, then for her.”  
Nat shut her eyes. “You’re right. Why do you always have to be right?” She said flatly.  
Steve let out a pathetic laugh. “I just am. Now come on, Clint and I will meet you on the Quinjet in five.”  
“Five minutes? You’re going to give me five minutes to say goodbye to my child?”  
“For you, I’ll give ten.” Nat could hear him smile through the phone.   
“Thanks, Steve.”   
“I’ll see you soon.” He hung up.  
Nat took a deep breath before entering back into the workshop. A moment flashed in her mind about giving up, but she quickly pushed it away. She thought about how upset Wanda would be. But this was her job. No, her life. If anything, she was doing it for Wanda.  
She pushed open the door. Wanda smiled, and she tried to return it, but she could tell something was wrong.  
“Tony, we have to go. I’ll explain on the way.”  
“What?” Wanda let out pathetically. Peter looked confused. “Come on, milaya. I’ll tell you on the way to the Quinjet.”  
“The Quinjet?” She asked, confused. “Where are we going?”  
Nat took her hand and pulled her out of the room. She had to jog to keep up with Natasha’s brisk pace. Peter followed behind.  
Nat sighed. “We are not going anywhere. Steve, Clint, Tony, and I are going on a mission, but we will be back by tomorrow.”  
Wanda stopped in her tracks. Peter ran into her from behind. “Sorry.”  
Wanda ignored him. “You promised your first mission back would only be for the day though, not overnight.”  
Nat shook her head. “I didn’t say that. I said I would try, but I couldn’t promise anything.”  
Wanda nodded pitifully.  
They had continued to walk again, well run in Wanda and Peter’s case, and they were out back on the runway in less than five minutes.  
Nat bent down. “I’m sorry my goodbye had to be so quick, milaya. I didn’t expect it to be this way. You can stay with Pepper, okay?” She turned to Peter.  
“And maybe Peter can stay here for a few hours, keep you company?” Peter nodded in approval. “Good luck Miss Romanoff.”  
Nat gave a sad smile. “I told you to call me Natasha.”  
She turned back to Wanda. “I promise you we’ll be back soon, okay milaya? I love you. And be good for Pepper.”  
She kissed her on the cheek. Wanda gave her a big hug.  
“I love you too. Be safe.” She whispered. Nat could tell she was holding back tears.   
Steve came up behind them. “I hate to break this up, but we really have to go.”  
He gave Wanda’s hair a ruffle. Wanda hugged his waist, taking him by surprise. Steve hugged her back. “We’ll be back soon, baby witch. You hold down the fort here while we’re gone, yeah? You’ll be the only Avenger at the compound.”  
Wanda nodded.   
“Good luck.” She breathed.  
Nat gave Wanda another hug. She only let go when Tony and Clint called her to hurry it up. She gave Wanda another kiss on the forehead.  
“I promise I’ll be back, okay? By tomorrow?”   
Wanda nodded. She was brave, she could handle it. Heck, she survived awful experiments every day of her life for four years.  
But then why did she feel so scared?


	9. Chapter 9

Nat unclipped her seat belt. After a quick flight to New Mexico, Tony landed the Quinjet about a kilometer from where Rhodey and Sam were hiding. They were supposed to run the rest of the way.  
“Alright, Tony. What’s the plan? What are we supposed to do when we get to the warehouse?”  
Tony tossed her, Steve, and Clint their earpieces. He put his in too.  
“We meet up with Rhodey and Sam first. Then we decide. They probably at least have an idea on the best entrance we can take.”  
Nat nodded. They grabbed their weapons and exited the jet.  
At the fastest pace they could run while fully armed, it took them fifteen minutes to find Rhodey and Sam. They were situated behind a grove of trees, which was up on a hill that overlooked the warehouse.  
Well, Nat would say that Rhodey and Sam were half-right. It was definitely a HYDRA base, but Nat wouldn’t call it secret. With a quick look through Sam’s binoculars, she could tell that all the people entering and exiting the building were wearing a lab coat with the HYDRA logo on it. It also seemed like a lot more people were exiting than entering. They carried huge steel boxes. Nat guessed the mystery weapons were inside.  
“Where do you think they’re all going?” Steve asked, taking a peek with his binoculars as well.  
“The real question is, what are they taking with them?” Rhodey mumbled.  
He sighed. “Okay, here’s the plan, well, half-plan that Sam and I came up with.”  
Sam interrupted. “There are two entrances. I say we split up; me, Clint, and Tony will go through the east doors,” He pointed to the doors on the east side of the building. A man was driving a truck rather fast through the huge entryway.   
“We have to hurry up if we’re going to catch any of them,” Tony said.   
“Okay,” Rhodey agreed. “Steve, Nat, and me, we’ll go through the south doors. Take out any people you see, and make sure no one gets away with those boxes. God only knows what’s in there.” He turned to Clint, Sam and Steve. “That goes for you guys, too.”  
“Alright,” Tony nodded.   
“Remember to use the comms if you need anything. Good luck, Team. Let’s head out.”  
They split up, and Nat, Steve, and Rhodey made it to the doors without being spotted. She assumed the same for the other three, as she didn’t hear anything through her earpiece.  
“This is weird,” Tony eventually commented on the unusual lack of HYDRA members.  
“Where is everyone? I would’ve thought we would’ve had to beat someone up by now.”  
Steve and Rhodey shrugged. This did seem a little uncommon.  
They made it all the way down the hall. It looked like everything had been abandoned quickly. Lights were still on, machines were still whirring, and one of the sinks in the lab was still running.  
They came across one of the steel boxes that they’d seen earlier. It had the Hydra Logo engraved into it, and a padlock kept in shut. Steve broke it off easily.  
“That’s weird. There’s nothing in it.” He said, confused.  
Nat’s heart dropped. Rhodey looked to her, startled. Clearly, he was thinking what she was. He flicked on his comms. “Guys, code red. We have to get out of here immediately. It’s not safe. I repeat, abort the mission. It’s a set-“  
Rhodey didn’t get to finish his sentence. Nat watched the whole building cave in on them with a deafening blast, before everything went dark.  
\---  
Wanda sat at the table by herself. Yesterday had been awful. She was so glad Nat was coming back today.  
Pepper was at the table with her. She had her laptop open, typing away briskly on some important document. Wanda was supposed to be reading aloud to Pepper, practicing her English. It was something she always did with Nat to prepare her for school in the fall, but she just wasn’t in the right frame of mind.  
All Wanda wanted to do was go up to her bedroom and be by herself. It scared her that she was feeling this way; usually, she never wanted to be alone. But Nat wasn’t there to keep her company.  
She ended up staying with Pepper. Wanda sat at the table silently. Pepper was on the phone now, for the first time in the twenty-four hours she stayed with her. She had promised to give her full attention to her, and she did. They had attempted to play games and watch sitcoms, but Pepper could tell Wanda just didn’t want to. She had tried to comfort the girl, telling her she worries about Tony, too. But it offered Wanda very little reassurance. She hadn’t slept more than an hour the night before, and they ended up staying up together out in the living room.  
When she realised Pepper wasn’t looking, Wanda lifted a glowing finger and moved the plastic horse that was sitting on the table. She attempted to make it look like it was running, but instead, it just slid across the table and landed on the floor.   
Pepper turned around, picked it up, put it back on the table, and nodded encouragingly at Wanda. All while continuing her conversation with the businessperson on the other side of the phone line.  
Wanda didn’t try again. Instead, she drew a small horse in the corner of Pepper’s notepad. Anything to keep her mind busy.  
It looked more like a demented cat more than anything.  
Her eyes snapped up from the notepad when the door to the compound opened. Peter walked in, took his shoes off, and plopped a seat on the table across from Wanda.  
Pepper gave a small wave to him and went back to her phone call.  
Peter had helped her a lot to keep her mind off of Nat being gone yesterday. Sure, he tried way too hard, but his chaotic energy and comedy actually made her feel a little better. She was glad that he felt so at home here, she hoped she would see him more often.  
“What are you drawing, Wanda?”  
He picked up a pen and drew a huge smiley face, taking up the whole page. It accidentally covered some of Pepper’s important notes.   
Pepper scowled at him. She ripped off the first few pages with her handwriting on them and handed the blank notepad back to them.  
Wanda shrugged. She enjoyed Peter’s presence, but she wasn’t really in the mood to engage in conversation with him.  
Pepper hung up the phone and sighed.  
“Those business guys, all they do is chat your ear off. Hi, Peter.”  
“Hi, Miss Potts.”  
Peter dropped his pen and leaned back in the chair, stretching his arms above his head.  
“When is everybody coming back?” He asked.  
Pepper looked at the clock. “Well, it’s almost one o’clock. They’d said they’ll be back by around this time. So, it should be any time. They’re probably running a little late.”  
Wanda gave a worried look, one that she didn’t intend anyone to see, but Pepper noticed.  
“Don’t worry, sweetie., Nat is fine. They’ll be back soon.”  
She squeezed her shoulder.  
\---  
But two, three, then four hours passed.   
Pepper bit one of her fingernails. She didn’t want to cause Wanda any unnecessary panic, but Tony had told them that they’d be home by noon at the latest, and if not, they’d be in contact. It was almost six o’clock, and nobody had heard from any of them.  
“They should be back by now,” Pepper got up off the couch and paced back and forth. Wanda sat cross-legged, staring at her hands in her lap. Pepper could tell she had a lot on her mind.  
“I’m going to go and try to contact them again. Peter, Wanda. Stay here.” She put on a fake smile. “I’m sure everything is okay. They probably just got held up and didn’t have time to tell us. It happens all the time.” She lied. Wanda could tell.  
She and Peter sat on the couch in silence, a cartoon playing at low volume in the background. Peter had his phone open, and he was calling Tony for the fifth time in the past ten minutes with no answer.  
Wanda’s mind was going a mile a minute. They could’ve been captured, hurt, or even worse.  
She had an idea that kept creeping its way back into her head. She was trying to get rid of it, but it seemed like an emergency. Something that could really help.  
She turned to Peter.  
“I think I can do something that might help us find out what has happened. But if there’s nothing to worry about, you have to promise not to tell Pepper or Nat. Or anyone actually. Please.”  
Peter nodded. “What are you going to do, Wanda? Don’t do it if it will hurt you. Please, Miss Romanoff would kill me.”  
“You can’t tell her. And no, it won’t hurt me, but I haven’t done it in a really long time. So maybe leave the room or something, I don’t know.”  
Peter shifted in his seat.  
“Tell me what it is, first. Miss Potts left me to watch after you while she was gone. She probably doesn’t want you casting witchy spells or something under my watch.”  
Wanda glared at him. She knew he was trying to make light of the scary situation, but she didn’t cast spells.   
“I remember in HYDRA,” she took a deep breath. She hated talking about her time there. But Nat and the rest of the Avengers could be in danger, and this could maybe prove that she was strong enough to be a part of the team for real.  
“I used to have to practice going into someone’s head.”   
Peter was confused, and as soon as it came out, she realised it did sound kind of confusing, but with her limited English, she really had no other way of explaining it.  
“If I touch someone’s head, I can easily read their mind, see what they are thinking,” She said quietly. “But I also used to have to practice entering someone’s mind from far away, without actually seeing them. The…doctor…he used to tell me to picture the person, it was usually another scientist, and I could sometimes do it. See what they see, I mean. I don’t know if Nat could tell that I entered her head though. When I used to do it at HYDRA, that was only from across the building. I don’t know how it would be when they’re in…” She forgot the name.  
“New Mexico?” Peter interrupted.  
“But I could try. There could be something wrong.”  
Peter nodded. “Okay, I’ll be in the kitchen. Please stop if something doesn’t feel right, or if you get hurt or something.”  
She nodded and sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. Peter left the room.  
She concentrated, and a mix of Nat and Strucker’s words filled her head.   
Concentrate, milaya. You can do this.  
Come on, witch. If you show no progress tonight, I’ll take it out on your brother. You better get this right, or else little Pietro will suffer.  
Take your time, Wanda. You won’t get anywhere if you rush, sweetie.  
Hurry it up, никчемный. We don’t have all day.  
She blocked off Strucker’s cruel words and focused on picturing Nat. Smiling when she praised her on her reading skills. Kissing her cheek before bed. Holding her hand as they walked down the street. Playing in the rain. Helping her with her training. Being someone who loved and cared about her. Being her mother.  
She could feel the red magic slowly encase her body, light up her eyes, and wrap around her head, forming a crown. Wanda missed it. It made her feel powerful, brave. Like she meant something.  
She’d never done anything this complicated with her powers before, but it was surprisingly easier than doing it at HYDRA. She felt motivated, driven. Using her magic actually had a purpose now other than to train to be HYDRA’s deadliest weapon.  
She slowly felt less conscious of where she was, and felt herself be taken over by Nat, until she was completely unaware that she was sitting in the living room, perfectly free of harm.

Nat looked around. It was dark and dusty. Chunks of concrete and building were surrounding her, and she was trapped. A few feet away, Steve was unconscious. A wall of concrete was on his stomach, and his shield lay limply beside him.  
She tried to yell for him, but all that came out was a fit of coughing.   
When she regained her voice, she clicked on her earpiece to answer the yelling from Clint, Sam, and Tony. They seemed to be okay.  
‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ She managed to cough out. She could feel a trickle of blood seep down her face.  
A piece of drywall and stone flipped over, and Rhodey sat up, coughing and sputtering. His leg was demented, and he yelled out in pain as he moved a piece of concrete off of it.  
Everyone seemed to be okay except Steve. Nat wiggled her way out of the wreckage. She quickly examined herself for any injuries, found some minor ones, and ignored them as she crawled her way over to Steve. She winced in pain, most of her ribs probably broken, but Steve wasn’t even conscious.  
‘Rhodey! Get your ass over here!’ She yelled, her voice cracking. She could smell smoke through her adrenaline rush. The building was on fire.   
Rhodey crawled his way over, and together they managed to pull the heavy wall off of Steve.  
He didn’t move. His face was pale and bloodied, and his shoulder was twisted. There was a pool of blood coming from the back of his head. He had landed on another piece of stone from the building.  
She flicked her earpiece again.  
‘Guys, we need your help. We have to find a way out of here. Is there any way you can clear the exit?’  
She heard Tony’s voice.  
‘I think so. Is everyone okay? No major injuries?’  
‘Rhodey’s leg is crushed, and I’m fine,’ She lied.  
‘But Steve’s unconscious. We have to get back to the compound immediately. Can we fly the Quinjet?’  
‘Yeah,’ Tony said. ‘Clint, Sam, and I will work on clearing the south entrance and taking out the bastards in our way. Do you think you and Rhodey can manage?’  
‘Yeah. We’ll try.’  
‘Okay, be careful.’  
Rhodey couldn’t do it through. His leg was completely crushed, Nat ended up carrying Steve in a fireman hold, and she leaned on Rhodey for support. They made it half-way before they crashed.  
Nat heard Rhodey’s voice ringing in her head, but she couldn’t figure out what he was trying to say.  
Her head was spinning. She thought about Wanda, and how she wasn’t going to fulfill her promise to her. She definitely wouldn’t be back by today. Hopefully, she would understand…

Wanda's eye’s snapped open. She fell back to the ground and realized she was floating slightly in the air. She did it.  
It took a second to click. That meant everything she saw was true.  
Peter came running in when he heard her drop to the ground. He saw the look on Wanda’s face. She was hyperventilating, panic running through her mind.  
“Wanda? Wanda! What’s wrong? What did you see?”  
Wanda sobbed. “They’re in trouble. We have to help them. S-Steve. He’s hurt. Really bad. Nat and Rhodey are too. But Steve isn’t awake. They were surrounded by concrete. It looked like…”  
She didn’t finish her sentence. But she was going to say it looked like their apartment when Mama and Papa died, but Peter didn’t need to know that.  
“…an explosion.” She finished.  
“We have to tell Pepper,” He reached for her hand. “Come on, maybe she’ll know what to do.”  
They found Pepper in her office. She was on the phone with Maria Hill, an agent from S.H.I.E.L.D.   
“Pepper!” Wanda yelled. She was crying, Panic filled her eyes. Peter’s face held a worried expression as well.  
“They’re in trouble. Steve is hurt really bad. Nat and Rhodey are too, but Steve was un, un-“  
“Unconscious.” Peter finished.  
Wanda nodded aggressively.  
“Wanda, how do you know this?” Pepper asked calmly. Maria was on the other line of the phone, asking a bunch of questions. Pepper turned her off speakerphone.  
“I-I just do, okay? You have to believe me!”  
She lied, but Peter filled Pepper in on what happened. Wanda was too scared and worried to care.  
“Wanda used her powers to enter Nat’s mind.  
“Please don’t be mad, Pepper. I’m sorry, I-“  
Pepper interrupted her. “Wanda don’t be sorry. You may have just saved Steve’s life if he was unconscious. It was very brave.”  
Wanda nodded, tears refilling her eyes. She didn’t really know that unconscious meant that bad. She and Pietro were unconscious many times at HYDRA, and they didn’t die.  
Pepper got her to explain what she saw, and as detailed as possible, she searched through all of Nat’s thoughts from before the explosion. She explained the outside, the warehouse, everything she could.  
Pepper nodded, thanked Maria, and hung up.  
“Agent Hill sent a team to the warehouse. They found it, and they’re going to get them out.”  
“Wanda,” She put a hand on Wanda’s shaking shoulder.  
“I want you to know that you just saved them. Without you, sweetie, we still wouldn’t know what was wrong, and where they were.”  
Wanda felt guilty, but at this moment, she was thankful for Strucker and her time at HYDRA. In a sad, weird, twisted way, she wouldn’t have been able to do this without him.  
Pepper headed to the door.  
“I have to contact Dr. Cho and Bruce. They’re going to meet the S.H.I.E.L.D plane on the runway with stretchers. I think you and Peter should stay inside until they go to the medical wing.”  
“No!” Wanda protested. “I have to be there.”  
Pepper nodded. She didn’t want to argue, regardless of how traumatic it could be to see everyone she loved injured. But the poor girl had already been through so much.  
They waited for what felt like days. But in less than an hour, the Quinjet landed, followed by another, smaller S.H.I.E.L.D. jet. Wanda stood up. Peter tried to hold her back, but as soon as Nat came stumbling out of the plane, Wanda left their grip and ran towards her.  
“Mama!” She couldn’t help it. It just slipped out, but Wanda didn’t care. She was so glad Nat was okay.  
Nat noticed her running, and she held her arms open to accept the oncoming embrace.  
Despite the intense pain, Nat was so thankful for it.  
Wanda sobbed. “I was so scared. I thought you were never coming back.”  
Nat’s eyes teared up. She couldn’t tell if it was from the pain or her emotions. She suspected it was the latter.  
“A promise is a promise, milaya.”  
Wanda hugged tighter. “I’m so sorry,” She mumbled. “I promised myself I would never go into your mind again, but I had to. I was so worried something was wrong, and something was wrong.”  
Nat comforted her. “Shh, milaya. It’s okay. You did the right thing. Maria told me, it was so brave of you, I promise.”  
Wanda pulled away from the hug to look at Nat. She had a bad cut on her forehead that had been temporarily patched up on the ride over. Her face was twisted in pain, but also sadness and worry.  
Wanda had completely forgotten about Steve.  
“How is Steve, will he be okay?” She wiped her tears off of her face.  
Nat looked over. Two S.H.I.E.LD. agents wheeled the stretcher towards Dr. Cho, who took it from them.  
“I don’t know. He was thrown back pretty hard in the blast. Some of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents think he has pretty bad internal bleeding.”  
Wanda swallowed. She didn’t know what that was, but judging by Nat’s tone of voice, it sounded bad.  
Maria and a male agent came out of the plane with a hobbling Rhodey. They motioned Nat over, too. Wanda followed beside her.  
Bruce walked over, embracing Nat. “I’m glad you’re okay, Widow. I was really worried. I came home immediately after Pepper called me to be ready.”  
Nat hugged her friend back. “We could’ve used you out there, Banner.”  
“Come on, Doctor Cho wants to examine you. She thinks that by the way you’re walking, at least four of your ribs are cracked, even though you’re pretty good at hiding it.”  
Nat wasn’t listening. Her eyes were fixed on Steve’s stretcher being wheeled away a few feet in front of her.”  
“He’ll be okay, Nat. He’s strong.”  
Nat nodded. She hoped Bruce was right. She needed him to be right.  
\---  
Wanda sat on the end of the hospital bed. She hadn’t left Nat’s side since they’d exited the plane, over an hour ago. She was stiff, the events of the past day echoing through her mind. Despite the fact that everyone convinced her that she saved Steve’s life, she didn’t believe it. She felt like a monster, like she violated Nat’s privacy, entering her mind like that. She understood that it needed to be done, but she wished she could’ve done it a different way. It brought back too many unsettling memories of HYDRA.  
Her eyes landed on Steve, who was still unconscious in the bed a few feet away. He was pale, bruised, and in general, looked awful.   
Nat caught her staring. “He’s going to be alright, milaya.” Nat realised she wasn’t only trying to convince Wanda, but herself, too.  
Wanda looked at the clock above Steve’s head. She gave a sad smile.  
“It’s 11:58.”  
“So?” Nat asked, her face scrunched in visible pain as she adjusted her position on the bed.  
“You still fulfilled your promise of being back today.”  
Nat smiled, and despite her pain, wrapped her arms around Wanda.  
“I love you, you know that Wanda? You are so brave. It couldn’t have been easy to do what you did.”  
Wanda relaxed in her embrace.  
“I love you too, Mama.”  
She looked up at Nat, silently apologizing for her mistake. It was the most she had energy for.  
Nat just kissed her forehead, smiling.  
She was glad to be the mother of such a strong child. It made her proud.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Disclaimer! If the medical talk in this chapter is wrong, I apologise, I’m not familiar with medical terms!

Wanda woke up with a start the next morning. She sat up rather quickly and looked around. She had forgotten about yesterday’s events until she realized she was still in the medical lab. She had fallen asleep with Nat, who wasn’t in the bed anymore, but in a chair beside Steve’s bed.  
Steve was still unconscious, and the doctors were running in and out of the room, checking his monitors and changing his head bandages.  
Nat noticed Wanda get out of bed. She hastily wiped any trace of tears, hoping the little girl didn’t notice.  
“Hi, milaya.” She smiled, only taking her eyes off of Steve for a moment.  
“How is he doing?” Wanda asked tiredly. She stifled a yawn.  
Nat sighed and pulled Wanda onto her lap.  
Wanda hesitated, shaking her head. “You’re hurt. I’ll just stand.”  
Nat invited her back on.   
“I heal fast. One of the perks of being the Black Widow. I’m feeling much better.” She said. She was definitely still in pain, but significantly less than yesterday.  
“I don’t know how Steve is doing, honey. Dr. Cho won’t tell me. She’s calling a team meeting for updates instead. Everyone is on their way down, we’re supposed to meet in the waiting room.”  
Wanda nodded silently. She really hoped Steve would be okay. He had to be. He was Captain America.   
Nat pulled Wanda off her lap and slowly got up, wincing slightly.  
“I thought you said you were feeling better?” Wanda asked, noticing Nat’s pain.  
Nat smiled weakly.   
“Better being the keyword. I have to go to the team meeting. You’re welcome to come if you’d like, or you can stay with Peter. He should be in the workshop.”  
Wanda took Nat’s hand. She wasn’t ready to leave her. Not yet. Not after she almost died, and Wanda had to experience it.  
“I want to come with you.”   
Wanda took one last look at Steve. He looked pretty much the same as yesterday. Pale, bruised. The only difference was that all the blood and dirt was cleaned off and he was hooked up to a bunch of different machines.  
When the pair got to the waiting room, everyone else was waiting for them, including Dr. Cho and Bruce.  
Dr. Cho took one look at Wanda, then gave Nat a separate look.  
“Wanda, I think you should go wait in the other room. You don’t have to listen.” Bruce said, picking up on Dr. Cho and Nat’s exchanged looks.  
Wanda’s heart dropped. Did that mean the news was bad?  
“I want to stay here, can’t I, Nat?” She looked up at Nat, who wasn’t listening. She was still processing Bruce’s words, probably wondering the same thing Wanda was.  
Tears rimmed her eyes, and she blinked them away.  
“Maybe Bruce is right, milaya. Why don’t you go get breakfast with Peter? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” Her voice cracked.  
Wanda wasn’t hungry. She hated being a kid. Everyone treated her like she was normal. Vulnerable. Her eyes flashed red for a second, and Nat noticed.  
“I’ll come to get you when the meeting is over.”  
Wanda obeyed her, although reluctantly. She exited the room and headed next door, a mix of fear of being alone, even if just for a moment while she walked to the workshop, and anger; that they didn’t take her seriously enough that she couldn’t sit in on some stupid meeting. Everyone told her she saved Steve’s life, but when it actually mattered, she was treated like a baby.  
\---  
Nat sighed, sitting back into her chair. She could deal with Wanda later. If this was bad news, she really didn’t want her to hear it.  
“What’s the news, Cho? It's good, I hope?” Tony asked, taking a seat. He too winced when he sat down.  
Dr. Cho sighed. “Good and bad.”  
Everyone stared at her blankly.  
“The bad news is that we’ve had to put Steve into a medically induced coma. His head has been severely concussed.”  
Tony stood up again. “A concussion? That’s it? People, normal people, get those all the time. Why-“  
“Sit down please, Mr. Stark.” Cho interrupted.   
“The concussions you see athletes or children get are just minor. Captain Rogers has suffered a large blow to the back of the head, most likely from crashing into a piece of concrete. Not only did it cause a significant laceration to the back of his head, but it caused severe brain damage. His brain waves these past few hours had shown that his body was more focused on trying to wake up than to heal. That can be severely dangerous.”  
“Why is it dangerous?” Clint asked. “We want him to wake up, don’t we?”  
Dr. Cho shook her head. “Not this soon. It doesn’t work like that. In order to help his brain heal from the concussion, Rogers must be in an unconscious state. To put it in non-medical terms, his brain can’t heal properly and get enough blood flow without being unconscious. His brain was more focused on trying to become conscious again and not so much focused on healing, so we put him on anesthetics.”  
“Well, when will he wake up again? Or rather, when will you wake him up?” Nat asked. Her voice was cracking, but she didn’t bother trying to hide it. She had very little energy to attempt to mask her emotions.  
“That depends, Miss Romanoff. If he wakes up, it probably won’t-“  
“Hold on, hold on. What do you mean, if? Don’t you mean when?” Nat asked, interrupting Dr. Cho.  
“Steve is very weak, Natasha,” Bruce added.  
“He has suffered traumatic injuries. These anesthetics will bring him the best chance of recovery, but we can’t promise anything. If things are looking good, I suspect that it should take around two weeks before he can awaken. That is the good news. Only two weeks. Once he shows signs of healing, it should progress smoothly.”  
Nat inhaled sharply, covering her mouth. She had always thought Steve was going to be okay. That maybe, it would take some time, but he would bounce back eventually. He always did. But Dr. Cho nor Bruce had never told her the odds like this before. They were the best scientists in America. Hell, the whole world. And here they were, telling Nat that there could be a chance Steve wouldn’t make it.  
“Nat? You okay?” She felt a hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts. It was Clint.  
She looked up to see everyone staring at her. Nat couldn’t take it. Not only did she not want everyone to see her cry, but she wanted to be alone. Or rather, with Steve.  
She gave a weak smile. “I…I just need a minute. Check on Wanda for me, okay?”  
Clint gave a worried nod.  
Nat entered the hospital wing to find Steve exactly where he was before. Of course.   
She looked around to make sure no one was in earshot and collapsed into tears. All the emotion she was holding in was let out as she sunk into the chair beside him.  
“Steve, this is all my fault.” She poured. Nat didn’t even have the energy to feel ridiculous talking to an unconscious person.  
“I-I’m so sorry. I should’ve realized it was a setup. I should’ve known. And I should’ve been able to carry you out faster. Instead, I had to rely on an eight-year-old kid to rescue us, Goddammit!” Nat yelled, throwing a cup across the room.  
“God, I’m so useless.” She sobbed.  
“You have to be strong, Steve. You’ve got to come back. I-I don’t know what I would do without you. I can’t lose you. I love you too much.”  
She paused, taking a well-needed breath. It was the first time she had admitted her feelings about Steve out loud. Even though no one was listening, she felt lighter, in a way.  
“I…I love you, so goddamn much Steve. I always have. And if you don’t wake up… I don’t know what I’d do without you. You know how bad I am with emotions. You know that I would never say anything.”  
Nat paused to look up and blink away her tears. A pang of embarrassment washed over her, but it quickly went away when her eyes refocused on Steve.  
“Just…get better, Steve. For me, and Wanda. And everybody else. We need you. I need you.”   
She placed a kiss on his forehead. A tear dropped onto his cheek, and she wiped it away. She wiped hers away too and took a deep breath.  
She left the room without turning around. She couldn’t bear to look at him. It would just make her cry again.  
\---  
“Wanda, honey. Nat told me to come to check up on you.”   
Clint popped his head into the kitchen, where Peter was attempting to make pancakes. He was just covered in batter, as was the whole room.  
Wanda sat at her usual spot at the table, between Nat and Steve’s empty chairs. A glass of apple juice sat in front of her, untouched.  
“Is she okay? Is Steve okay?” She asked, looking up. Clint took a seat across from her. He didn’t answer her question.  
“Clint?” Wanda asked again.  
Clint sighed. He so badly wanted to sugar-coat the truth for Wanda, but he knew she wouldn’t believe him. She was too smart.  
“Dr. Cho is going to keep him asleep for a while, so that his body can heal better. It might take a few weeks, but hopefully, everything will heal smoothly, and he will be back in no time.”  
Wanda took a sip of her juice. It tasted like nothing.   
“But that’s good, right? He’s going to get better?”   
Clint gave a hopeful look. Peter came and sat down beside Clint.  
“Dr. Cho hopes so, but right now, only time can tell. It’s up to Steve now to help himself.”  
“And Steve is strong, right?” Peter added. “If he’s Captain America, he can do anything. He’ll pull through, you’ll see.”  
Clint clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re right, kid.” Peter smiled.  
“What about Nat? Is she okay? She was really sad this morning.” Wanda thought back to when she woke up, finding Nat with Steve.  
“She’ll be okay, sweetie, she’s just worried about Steve.”  
“I know everyone is worried, of course, you are. But Nat, she seems extra sad or something. She was crying this morning when I woke up. She tried to hide it, but I noticed. And she told me before all of this that she never cries.”  
Clint gave a sad smile and squeezed Wanda’s shoulder.  
“She cares about Steve a lot. Probably more than any of us do.”  
The timer beeped on the oven. “I’ve got it,” Peter shot up and headed to the kitchen.  
“She loves him, doesn’t she, Clint? I know everyone jokes about it, and they always try to hide it, but I can tell.”  
Clint nodded. “We all can tell, but it’s no our place to intervene, so we just make jokes. It’s the most they’ll allow us to do.”   
Clint gave a small, dry chuckle. Wanda slightly smiled.  
“All we can do is support Nat. She’ll try to act like everything is okay, but you know her as well as I do. She hides her feelings really well.”  
Wanda nodded. She had experienced that firsthand today when Nat wiped her tears away, thinking Wanda didn’t notice.  
“Can we go see her?” Wanda asked Clint, looking at the door to the hallway. She wanted to be with her right now more than anything.  
“I think she might need a bit of time by herself, honey. Why don’t we try one of Peter’s pancakes, and go visit her later?” Clint asked, a hint of apology in his expression. He really didn’t want to upset the girl, but he knew his best friend more than anyone. In times of sadness, all she did was push away her feelings. The best course of action for her to deal with them was just to give her time by herself. Or in this case, with Steve.  
Wanda nodded but shot her head over to Peter in the kitchen before she could say something.  
“Dang it!” He yelled. “We might need a plan B on the pancakes, Wanda. How about some cereal? Lucky Charms?”  
Wanda swallowed. “It’s okay, I’m not hungry, Peter. Thanks for trying though.”   
Lucky Charms just reminded her of Steve.  
“Something smells like it's burning.” Nat walked in, any trace of sadness or worry, vanished.  
Clint and Wanda shared a look.   
Wanda got up and ran to Nat, who bent down to embrace the girl.  
Wanda buried her head into her neck.  
“Mama,” She said, muffled by Nat’s, or actually Steve’s, hoodie. “I was worried about you.”  
“I’m sorry, Wanda. I just needed a little time to think. I didn’t mean to leave you.”  
Wanda looked at her. “He’s going to be okay.” She attempted to comfort her, something Nat always did for her. Now it was her turn to return the favour.  
“I think you’re right, milaya. I can feel it.”


	11. Chapter 11

Two, then three weeks passed as slow as possible. Wanda spent the first two pretty normally. She and Nat fell into a new routine for visiting Steve every day. She even talked to him sometimes, telling him about her day, or something funny Sam did.   
Nat never spoke to him, not in front of Wanda. Not only was she afraid she would break down, but she honestly didn’t know what to say, or if Steve could even hear her. She’d prefer to do it alone.  
When the third week came, Wanda noticed Nat become even more worried than she was before. She never ate, never slept, and she always had a fake smile plastered to her face whenever Wanda was with her, despite her eyes being so far away all of the time.  
“Can we go visit Steve now?” It was a Tuesday afternoon, and Wanda had just finished up her math practice for the day. She was getting bored of multiplication tables and had packed her books up, despite Nat’s protests. It was only the end of June, after all. Most kids were on summer break.  
Nat had a book open, Война и миръ to be exact, but Wanda could tell she wasn’t exactly reading it. She flipped the page every minute or so, but it wasn’t fooling her.  
Nat closed her book.   
“Why don’t you practice your reading for a bit. You can start that book Lila gave you.”  
Wanda put her workbook into a random drawer in her desk. She shook her head.  
“I don’t really want to…”  
She didn’t mean to talk back to Nat, but she really did want to see Steve, and she thought that Nat could use it too. They hadn’t been down to the medical wing yet today.  
“I want to tell him how good I’ve been doing with my training. He would want to know that I’m getting better control, Nat.”   
That was a lie. She was getting better, but wanting to tell Steve about it was just an excuse to go down. She simply just wanted to see him. Maybe Dr. Cho or Bruce would be there, and they could tell them some updates.  
There was a silence in the room for a few moments. Wanda broke it.  
“He should be awake, Mama. I’m worried.”  
Nat’s heart dropped. She would never get used to that name. It was only once in a while Wanda called her that, but it was becoming more and more common to hear it come out of her mouth.  
Nat sighed, standing up.  
“I know, milaya. But you heard Dr. Cho. It could take a little longer. Steve might just need a little extra time to heal.”  
Wanda nodded. They walked together to the hospital wing, to find Steve in the same place he always was. A doctor was changing the bandage on his head, which was still significantly deep.  
Wanda gripped Nat’s hand as they watched the nurse carefully.  
“Do you think he’ll remember us when he wakes up?”  
Nat turned to her, shocked.   
“Of course. Why wouldn’t you think so, Wanda?”  
Wanda shrugged.  
“Remember that movie that I watched with you and Sam the other day, about the orphan who didn’t remember she was a princess because she hit her head on the train tracks?”  
Nat nodded. She was talking about Anastasia, the Disney movie about a girl who didn’t remember she was the Princess of Russia. It was sort of based on a true story, but Sam had picked it because he thought it was funny, as Nat shared the same last name as the Russian Princess. Sam thought they could use a bit of normalcy in their routine, with everything going on.   
Wanda had liked the movie, but Nat didn’t think that she would have connected Anya’s injury to Steve. The girl was too smart, even Nat didn’t connect the dots.  
“Milaya, that’s just a movie. It didn’t even happen in the real story.”  
Nat decided not to tell Wanda what actually happened to the real Princess Anastasia. It probably wasn’t something an eight-year-old should know.   
“If Steve had any chance of getting amnesia, Bruce or Doctor Cho would have definitely told us.”  
The nurse changing Steve’s bandages, who must’ve overheard, nodded.  
“That’s a different part of the brain, honey. Don’t worry. When Steve wakes, up, he will definitely remember who you are.”  
Wanda nodded, reassured by both Nat and the nurse’s words.  
“Is Dr. Cho or Bruce around?” Nat asked the nurse, who was washing her hands at the nearby sink.  
“One of them should be around, I can page them if you’d like.”  
Nat nodded. Wanda hoped they had some hopefully good news. Although no one mentioned it, they were all thinking that Steve should be conscious by now. It was almost a week past the date Dr. Cho had predicted.  
Even though Nat said that it could take extra time, both of them, as well as the rest of the team, were getting more worried as each day passed.  
Nat sat in the chair beside Steve’s bed, while Wanda sat on the end of the bed cross-legged. She nattered to Steve, mostly nervous for one of the doctors to come down.  
She was in the middle of telling Steve about the competitive game of Mario Kart she and Peter had when Dr. Cho came into the room.  
Wanda stood up eagerly, ready to hear at least a little news, but her face fell when she saw Dr. Cho.  
“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” Nat asked, standing up. She sounded desperate for answers.  
“Why isn’t he awake yet?” Wanda asked Dr. Cho. Nat put a hand on her shoulder, telling her to be quiet.  
Dr. Cho sighed. “I was just about to contact you,” She said.  
“I wanted to wait a few days, just to make sure. But I have something to discuss with you. I thought that maybe you should know before the rest of the team.”  
Nat nodded. Wanda looked at Steve, and then to Nat.  
“Wanda, sweetie, do you think you could stay here with Steve for a bit? I have to talk to your mother about something.”  
“Why can’t I hear it too?” Wanda asked. She didn’t really care about listening because she knew Nat would tell her later. She just didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to be with Nat.  
“Wanda, listen to Dr. Cho. We’ll be a few minutes. Why-”   
She paused. Wanda could tell her mind was moving in a hundred different directions.  
“Why don’t you tell Steve about how you finally stacked the metal boxes in training? I’m sure he’d love to hear about it.”  
Nat smiled, but it was weak, never reaching her eyes. Wanda could tell.   
She wanted to protest, but Nat didn’t deserve it. She reluctantly nodded.  
“Good girl.” She placed a kiss on the top of her head.  
“I’ll be right back, milaya.”  
Wanda sunk into the chair.  
Nat and Dr. Cho stepped outside.  
“What’s going on? Is Steve okay?” Nat asked Dr. Cho when they were out of earshot from Wanda.  
Dr. Cho sighed, her eyes refusing to meet Natasha’s.   
“We don’t know, Miss Romanoff. From both Bruce and I’s experiences, coma patient’s brainwaves should show a change by now, as long as they are healing.”  
Nat’s heart dropped to the floor. “What are you saying? That he’s not healing?”  
“From what we can tell, he should be showing signs by now. Actually, his brain waves should’ve been showing signs by at least three or four days ago, but I wanted to wait a few days just to make sure.”  
Nat was shocked. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t feel any emotion. Just emptiness.  
“What can we do? There has to be something. Medicine? Therapy? You’re the best doctor in the whole world, I’m sure you can figure out something!”  
Nat yelled, and Bruce ran down the hall. His eyes shimmered with something Nat was so thankful to see. Hope.  
He held his computer open in his arms, and Nat ran to him.  
“I think I have an idea that could work. Something that could help Steve. But you have to understand that I said could. It very well couldn’t work, but it’s the best chance we have. I also don’t know if you’ll like it.”  
Nat was willing to try anything at this point. Anything to get her best friend, the person she loved more than anyone, back.  
There was a moment of silence. Bruce didn’t say anything. He was trying to read Nat’s facial expression.  
“Well, are you going to stand there, or tell me?” She demanded. She didn’t mean to sound hostile, but it did come out that way.  
Bruce sighed, but determination reached his eyes.  
“I think Wanda’s powers could help snap Steve out of his coma. When you told me about how she helped find you and the team in New Mexico, it gave me an idea.”  
“Bruce, I can’t-“  
“Just hear me out, Widow.”  
Nat nodded.  
“Wanda’s powers might be able to reach Steve’s conscience. If she could somehow communicate with him through her’s, like mind reading, but with talking, maybe she could figure out what’s wrong.”  
Nat shook her head. If there was one person she cared about as much as Steve, it was Wanda.  
“Bruce, I can’t ask her to do that. She’s not a pawn, she’s an eight-year-old girl who’s been through a ton of shit. Every single time she uses her magic to enter someone’s mind, it brings back horrible memories. She goes through awful stages of nightmares. She still hasn’t recovered from when she took over my mind a few weeks ago. Every night, like goddamn clockwork, she wakes up screaming after seeing what I saw. She promised herself she would never do it again. And I can’t ask her to, even if it means saving Steve. There has to be another way.”  
Bruce sighed. “But there isn’t another way. This is the last chance we have.”  
Before Nat could answer, she heard the door creak shut.  
Nat silently swore. Knowing Wanda, she was eavesdropping on their conversation.  
Nat got up. “Excuse me while I go convince my daughter that she’s not a lab rat to be experimented on.”  
Before she opened the door, she took one last look at Dr. Cho and Bruce.  
“There has to be another way,” She tried to convince not only them but herself.  
The door slammed shut behind her.  
Wanda was a sight for sore eyes. Her knees were bundled up to her chest, and her chin was resting on them. Nat could tell she was thinking really hard.  
“Don’t even listen to them, milaya. There’s another way, and Dr. Cho and Bruce will find it. For now, they’re going to keep Steve in the coma for a few more days while they figure it out.”  
Nat thought she would’ve protested, agreeing to do it, but instead, the small girl brought her knees even closer to her chest. She didn’t know what to think. Or say, for that matter. Her eyes just stayed fixed on the unconscious Steve in front of her.  
…  
Two nights later, Wanda woke up from her regular nightmare by herself. Well, Nat was beside her, but instead of being awake, ready to comfort her and console her, she was fast asleep.   
Wanda was actually glad. She deserved the sleep. For the past few days, Nat had been running on no sleep at all. Her body must’ve given out.  
Wanda laid in bed for a good fifteen minutes tossing and turning, but she was afraid that her restlessness would wake Nat out of her suspiciously peaceful sleep, so she headed down to the kitchen for a glass of water.  
In a way, Wanda was proud that she mustered up the courage to head down the hall in the middle of the night, all by herself. Guided by the hall light, she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it up at the sink.  
She lost her grip on the cup, and it fell out of her hand. She tried to use her magic to stop the fall, but it happened too fast. It was too late. The cup smashed into a million pieces, echoing through the quiet room. Wanda cringed. She hoped no one had woken up.  
She bent down to gather the pieces, but a familiar sound, one from her HYDRA days, caught her off guard. The click of a gun.  
She enveloped herself in red magic in self-defense, lowering herself to the ground.  
“What the hell, Wanda?”  
A familiar voice filled the silence, and her barrier of magic slowly faded away as she stood up.  
Nat hastily put her gun away, meeting Wanda on the other side of the kitchen.  
“You scared the living hell out of me!” Nat took a moment to collect herself, the fear slowly leaving her body. She bent down, picking up the pieces of glass. Wanda reached to help, but Nat pulled her hands away gently.  
“Don’t touch it, you’ll cut yourself.”  
Wanda stood off to the side in silence while Nat lectured her.  
“What were you thinking? I thought- Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”  
“What?” Wanda asked, confused.  
“When I woke up to a loud noise and found you gone, I thought you were in trouble!”  
Nat’s eyes were filled with relief and concern, but Wanda was offended.   
“I was only getting a drink, you didn’t have to pull a gun on me!”  
“I’m sorry, milaya. I didn’t mean to scare you, I’ve just… been on edge since the mission.”  
Nat filled up another glass of water, handing it to Wanda.  
“What even happened on that mission, anyway? No one even said anything. I thought it was just because everyone was worried about Steve, but still. Not even Tony or Clint has said anything.”  
“Nothing you need to be worried about, Wanda.”  
Nat threw the broken glass into the garbage can.  
“Why can’t you just tell me, mama? I’m not a baby!”  
“You know what, Wanda?”  
Nat slammed the garbage lid.  
“You are a baby. Compared to everyone else, you are. You’re eight years old, for god’s sake. You should be playing with Lego and watching Disney movies, not worrying about secret HYDRA bases.”  
Nat swore, realising what she just said. Damn it. She really just screwed that up.  
“S-Secret HYDRA base?” Wanda asked quietly. Nat sighed, slapping her palm to her forehead.  
“Forget I said anything, Wanda. Please don’t mention it again. I mean it.”  
She got up to leave, but Wanda stopped her.  
“You know, everyone always says that I ‘saved Steve,’ and ‘I’m so brave' and that ‘We’re a team,’ but when it really counts, you don’t even mean it!”  
Wanda yelled. Her eyes flashed red, but this time, she didn’t feel guilty.  
“I’m just trying to protect you, Wanda.”  
“I can take care of myself.”  
“I know you can, but it's not about can, it's about should. You shouldn’t have to take care of yourself. Most children have parents who do it for them.”  
“Well, I’m not most kids.”  
“It doesn’t matter. You’re still a kid, Wanda. What don’t you understand? I don’t care if you have powers or not. You still deserve to be loved and cared for.”  
Wanda knew it was true. When she first came to live with her, she didn’t think she deserved it. Not after what she put the Avengers through. But Nat showed her that she did in fact deserve love.  
Wanda paused, hesitating to ask further. She didn’t want to push Nat over the edge, but the curiosity got the better of her.  
“The secret base, did you find them?”  
Nat sat back down. She knew Wanda wasn’t going to let it go.  
“We’re working on it. So far we know that the whole explosion was a set-up.”  
“I can help, you know. I know everyone’s faces from HYDRA.”  
Nat shook her head. “I’m not discussing this again,” She warned. “You’re not allowed to fight on missions until I think you’re ready.”  
Nat knew that wasn’t going to be for a very, very long time. But Wanda didn’t need to know that.  
“I can help with Steve then. What Dr. Cho suggested before. I can do it.”  
Nat turned, shocked. “Wanda…”  
“I want to do it.” Wanda was determined. Nat could tell she was thinking about it a lot the past few days, despite the fact she didn’t mention it once.  
Are you sure? You said you didn’t want to. That it was too frightening.”  
“I want to help.” She lowered her gaze into her lap.  
“Milaya,” Nat grabbed her hand. “Don’t do this because you feel useless. I don’t want you to hurt yourself again. Look at what reading my mind did to you. You’re still getting over the nightmares, and that was two weeks ago.”  
“I think I can talk to Steve though. Try to get him to wake up. I’ve done it before, at HYDRA. I remember.”  
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She actually didn’t remember. Her mind blocked out a lot from HYDRA, but Wanda thought she could remember vaguely trying to wake up someone that was unconscious. Her brother, maybe? She couldn’t place a finger on it. But she knew she had to try.  
“Please let me, Mama. I can do it. I know I can. The nightmares that it might cause, they’re worth it if we can get Steve back.”  
Nat hesitantly nodded. She was torn, but Wanda was so adamant.  
“Okay. We’ll tell Dr. Cho tomorrow.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I was just rereading all of the chapters posted to this story on Ao3, and I realized all the thoughts/scenes that are supposed to be italicized arent, and I don't know why. I'm going to try to figure it out in the chapters to come, but for now, all the scenes or character's thoughts (Wanda mind-reading mostly) won't be in italics, which might be confusing so I'm sorry!  
> Anyways, here's the next chapter, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

The next morning, when Wanda and Nat walked into the medical wing of the lab, Nat had stopped Wanda before she opened the door.  
Nat squeezed her shoulder, bending down to look Wanda in her eyes, which were filled with determination.  
“Wanda, I’m serious. If you don’t want to do this, no one is making you. I don’t want you to get hurt, milaya. We can find another way.”   
Even Wanda knew that wasn’t true. She shook her head.  
“This is the only way. I heard Dr. Cho yesterday. I can do it, Nat. I know I can. I think Steve is lost in his head somewhere, and he can’t get out.”  
Nat nodded, standing up. It was a weird way of putting it, but it definitely made sense.  
When they got to where Steve usually was, both Wanda and Nat panicked. Steve’s bed was empty.  
A nurse noticed their faces.  
“They moved him to another room with more advanced neurological testing.”  
Nat sighed in relief. She had thought the worst.  
The nurse gave an apologetic smile.  
“I’m sorry. Someone probably should’ve told you. Let me show you where he is.”  
They headed down the hall, and the nurse scanned a key card to unlock the door.  
“Here you are, and Dr. Cho or Bruce should be here soon if one isn’t already.”  
The nurse turned to Wanda.  
“Dr. Cho told me what you’re going to do, Wanda. Good luck sweetie, and just know you are very brave.”  
Wanda nodded shyly. She didn’t really think so.  
The nurse headed away, grabbing a clipboard on her way out.  
Wanda sat on the end of Steve’s bed. She couldn’t help it, but her nervousness caused a thin red fog to envelope her hands. She quickly hid them behind her back while she gained control.  
Nat wasn’t even looking at her, but she could tell Wanda was hiding her magic. She didn’t say anything.  
They sat in silence, both staring at Steve, lifeless on the bed. He was looking paler each day, and the bruises and marks from the explosion were only fading slowly.  
Wanda began to doubt herself. She had been convincing Nat for the past 24 hours that she could do it, but what if she actually couldn’t? What if he was gone for good? Would Nat resent her if she couldn’t bring him back? She couldn’t possibly…  
Nat could tell Wanda was thinking hard. It didn’t take a mind reader to understand she was doubting herself. She motioned Wanda over to her and took her hands in hers.  
“What are you thinking, milaya?”  
Wanda looked to Steve, then back to Nat, blinking tears out of her worried eyes.  
“What-What if I can’t do it? I know I said I could. But what if I hurt him even more?”  
Nat sighed, pulling the child onto her lap.  
“маленькая ведьма, you are the toughest kid I know. I want you to know that. I’ve only known you for a month and you’ve already saved the Avengers twice.”  
Nat stroked her hair and brushed a tear off of her cheek.  
“All of us understand that this might not work. No one is holding that against you. And no one is making you do this. It doesn’t make you less brave or strong, and it doesn’t mean I love you any less.”  
Wanda nodded. That was really all she wanted to know. She had already made up her mind that she was going to do it, regardless of what Nat thought, however, she was relieved to know that no one had high expectations. She was just a kid, after all, even if she hated being one.  
A few minutes later, Bruce and Dr. Cho appeared in the doorway, with some sort of advanced medical technology.  
“We’re going to use this to monitor Rogers’ brain waves in greater detail. If we see a change while Wanda is doing her thing,” Bruce said, hooking neuro patches to Steve’s head,  
“Then that should mean to us, out here, that they’re communicating through their consciences.”  
Nat and Wanda nodded, although the whole concept seemed weird. Not only did Bruce’s medical terms make no sense, but it just seemed like something out of a science fiction movie. A fascinating concept, but just couldn’t be comprehendible.  
But then again, here they were; A baby witch, a former Russian spy, a comatose world war II soldier who didn’t look a day over 25, and a genius scientist that turned into a green human mutant; all in the same room together. That in itself proved that there was a possibility that this could work.  
“Whenever you’re ready, Wanda.”  
Wanda shifted.   
“You’re going to watch me do it?”  
Bruce tapped his pen on the table impatiently.  
“I have to, so I can read the brain waves.”  
Nat stood up.  
“If you want, I can leave, so you have the least amount of audience as possible.”  
“No!” Wanda said desperately. “I want you to stay.”  
Nat nodded, sitting back down.  
Wanda turned to Bruce and Dr. Cho. “Just…don’t stare at me. It makes me nervous.”  
They nodded understandingly.   
Wanda took a deep breath, placing her hands on the sides of Steve’s head. He was cold and lifeless, and the feeling sent chills down her whole body.  
Before starting, she looked around. Nat was staring intently, encouragement written all over her face.  
To Wanda’s request, both Dr. Cho and Bruce weren’t looking at her; Dr. Cho had her eyes down at a clipboard, reading it, with the tip of her pen in her mouth. Bruce’s eyes were fixed on the screen of the brain scanner. So far, the waves were the exact same as before.  
Wanda nodded to herself. She could do this.  
She could feel the red magic engulf her body and light up her eyes.  
Her vision went dark moments later, and she closed her eyes, envisioning the man in front of her. She became aware of nothing, except the feeling of Steve’s head. Slowly, she even lost consciousness of that…

All she was aware of was pitch blackness. She couldn’t see or hear anything, not even her mother’s words of encouragement from back in the hospital wing.  
Wanda called out for Steve in her head. At first, there was no audible answer. She was about to call again when she heard the faintest voice in the back of her head.  
“Can you hear me?”  
It was Steve. It was actually him. Wanda restrained herself from excitement, as she knew that would snap her out of her unconscious thought. Instead, she answered him.  
“Steve? Is that you?”  
“Yeah…It’s me. Baby witch?”  
Wanda felt herself smile. She missed his voice.  
“Yeah, it’s me. I’ve missed you. Nat misses you. Where have you been?”  
There was a pause.  
“I don’t know. Where am I?”  
Wanda didn’t answer right away. Was Steve not aware of his comatose state?  
“Steve,” She started, unsure of how to break the news to him, “You’ve been asleep for three weeks. Dr. Cho and Bruce thought that you weren’t going to wake up, so they sent me in to pull you out.”  
It was definitely a summary. So much more went on during that time, but she didn’t have all day.  
“I-I think I could hear you talking. I could hear Nat, too.”  
“Just me. Nat doesn’t really say much. She thinks you can’t hear her.”  
“No, I remember. Tell her that I heard everything she said.”  
Wanda was confused, but now wasn’t the time to ask him about it. She couldn’t hang on forever.  
“You have to wake up, Steve. You have to wake up so you can tell Nat yourself that you remember. She needs you. We all do. And you’re here, talking to me, which shows that you can do it. Wake up.”  
There was a moment where Steve didn’t answer her.  
“I don’t know how…”  
“Think about your life back home. About Nat. She loves you, Steve. You can do it, you’re just lost.”  
“Lost? But you were sent to find me?”  
He was acting a little delirious, but Wanda didn’t blame him.  
“Yeah, Steve. And I did find you.”  
Wanda was running out of time. She couldn’t hold on much longer, but she needed to make her last words sound convincing enough to Steve.  
“Where is Nat?” Steve asked her weakly.  
“She’s right beside your bed, waiting for you to wake up. She’s so worried about you. She’ll do whatever it takes to get you back.”  
Wanda was slipping back into reality, and fast. She could hear Steve’s last words in the back of her head as she faded back into the hospital room.  
“…Whatever it takes…”

Wanda fell into Nat’s arms. She must’ve been in the air again.   
Wanda looked up at Nat. She was crying tears of happiness, and it was contagious.  
Wanda started to cry too.  
“I heard him, Mama! He’s in there, and he’s trying to wake up. He was just lost, but I got him back! We’re gonna get him back!”  
Nat embraced her, letting her tears fall as well.  
“I know, milaya. We saw the brain waves. You did it. You got him back.”  
Bruce came over, interrupting them.  
“From what I can tell, whatever you said, little witch, you convinced him enough to snap back to reality. He’s waking up.”  
Bruce’s smile was as wide as Nat and Wanda’s.  
Nat let out a relieved sob. She couldn’t be prouder of Wanda. She really was a savior.  
“What did you say to him, to wake him up?”  
Wanda sniffed. “Maybe Steve will tell you when he’s back.”  
She hugged Nat harder, staring intently at Steve over her shoulder.  
He still didn’t move, but his brain waves were off the charts. He sure was trying.  
“I knew you could do it, milaya.”  
Nat whispered in her ear. Wanda smiled. She knew deep down she could do it, too.  
…

The next ten minutes were the longest ten minutes any of them had ever gone through.  
By minute three, Nat saw Steve’s hand move slightly. They all surrounded his bed, staring intently. The brain scanner was off the charts with activity, but they all blocked the loud beeping out of their heads, focusing instead on Steve.  
By minute six, he moved again. This time his face. It scrunched up in determination, but his eyes didn’t open.  
By minute eight, he started mumbling incoherent nonsense.  
And by minute ten, Steve Rogers's eyes snapped open, and he shot up in a pure panic.  
Nat shot forward, restraining his flailing arms. Wanda stood beside her, surprised. Did he not remember their conversation? If he fought that hard, clearly, he did.   
“Hey! Steve!” Nat comforted him, although panic and shock laced her voice.  
“It’s okay, Steve. It’s me, Nat.”  
“I can’t see anything!” Steve yelled. Wanda noted that his eyes were wide open.  
“You’re in the lab, Steve. Bruce, Dr. Cho, and Wanda are here.”  
“Wanda?” Steve looked around.  
“I’m right here, Steve.” Wanda said quietly. She touched his arm so he could look her way, but he jumped back.  
“You were…” Steve tried to put what just happened into words. He couldn’t do it.  
“Yeah, I woke you up, Steve. Now you’re back with us.”   
Steve nodded. His eyes darted around. He clearly still couldn’t see. Dr. Cho noticed this.  
“Don’t worry, Rogers. Your eyesight should be back within the next few minutes. Your eyes have been closed so long that they take a while to get used to the light again.  
“I-I’ve been out, for three weeks?”  
Nat nodded, but then she remembered he couldn’t see.  
“Yeah, how did you know?”  
“Wanda, you told me, right?”  
“Yeah, you remembered!”   
Nat helped Steve sit up. He blinked a few times.  
“Can you see me?” Nat asked, her voice shaky. So much just happened, her brain could barely process it. Her eyes were still rimmed with tears. Steve slowly reached out to wipe a stray one off her cheek.  
He looked around, and even though everything was pretty blurry, it was starting to come back.   
“I could hear everything. But I didn’t know where it was coming from, not until now. Before I thought my brain was still making everything up.”  
“What did you hear?” Wanda asked, testing his theory. Nat prayed he didn’t hear her whole confession. If she knew he would’ve heard her, she never would’ve admitted her feelings to him. How could she be so stupid?  
Steve turned to Wanda. “You talked about your training and... Peter losing at Mario Kart?”  
Wanda nodded vigorously; a smile plastered to her face.  
He turned to Nat, who was gripping his hand.  
“You said something too, I think. Unless my brain was just making it up.” He mumbled.  
Steve stared at her, a small, content smile creeping up at the corners of his lips. He clearly wanted to say something, but he kept silent. They could discuss it another time.  
Wanda shook her head. “She told me that you couldn’t hear us, so she never talked to you. You probably made it up.”  
Steve leaned back.  
“Right…” He said under his breath, but he wasn’t convinced.  
…  
It was at least midnight, and Nat and Wanda had finally crawled into bed after today’s events. Wanda couldn’t believe it. Nat couldn’t believe it. They finally had Steve back.  
Nat stared at the ceiling, reliving everything that just happened in the past day. She let out an accidental sigh.  
“What’s wrong, Nat?” Wanda asked. She didn’t realize she was still awake.  
Nat turned to Wanda.  
“You know,” She started. “It was pretty cool to see your powers like that today. Scary, for me, but really amazing, Milaya.”  
“Why was it scary?”  
Nat paused, unsure of how to continue.  
“I was just so worried that you were going to get lost in your head, too. And then you started floating, and a crown appeared on your head. It was kind of scary for a mother to watch her eight-year-old daughter float into the air. It almost sounded like you were chanting, too.”  
Wanda sat up. She wasn’t aware of this.  
“Chanting?”  
“Yeah. I couldn’t hear what you were saying, but we all thought it was your conscience, talking to Steve.”  
Wanda nodded. The reason she probably wasn’t aware of it was because this was the first time she could vividly remember talking to someone through telekinesis.  
Wanda laid back down, snuggling close to Nat.  
“Did you see anything scary, like when you saw the explosion from me?”  
“Actually…no.” Wanda never thought about it. She didn’t have time. But, she now realized that she actually never saw anything.  
“I couldn’t see anything. Only hear. It was just pitch black.”  
Nat tucked a loose hair that fell out of her braid.  
“I guess that’s a good thing, right? Less chance of nightmares?”  
Wanda nodded.  
“I think you need to go talk to Steve alone, Mama.”   
Despite the fact that Wanda might not have nightmares that night, she knew neither of them would fall asleep anytime soon. There was just way too much that happened today.  
Nat looked confused in the darkness, lit up only by the moonlight out of the crack of her curtains.  
“Why do you say that?”  
Wanda shrugged; a movement Nat could barely see.  
“So that you can tell him that you missed him. That you love him.”  
Nat sat up, flicking the lamp on.  
“Why would you say that?”  
“Steve loves you. He said so when I talked to his conscience.”  
Wanda knew it was a lie. Steve never said that. But right now, Nat needed facts, even if they were fake. Besides, everyone could tell that Steve Rogers loved Natasha Romanoff. Well, everyone except Natasha Romanoff herself.  
“Do you love him, Mama?”  
Nat didn’t answer. She bit the skin around her thumb, staring ahead. She was clearly processing everything Wanda just sprung on her.  
“Mama?”  
Nat still didn’t answer her question. She sat in the glow of the lamplight, contemplating Wanda’s words.   
After a minute or so, she sprang up, kissing her forehead.  
“I’ll be right back, milaya. Stay here.”  
She left the room, shutting the door behind her. Wanda knew she wouldn’t be back that night. And for the first time ever, she was actually okay with it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Sorry, it's a little short. I also still can't figure out the italics thing, if anyone knows, it would be greatly appreciated:) Enjoy, and have a happy weekend!<3

Nat walked hastily down the hallway; her mind distracted by Wanda’s words. It was definitely past midnight, and Steve was probably asleep, but she needed to talk to him.  
Wanda’s words from earlier had put a whole new perspective on her relationship with Steve.  
She knew she loved him. She always had, ever since she joined the Avengers all those years ago, but she never would’ve admitted it to him if she thought that he could hear her.  
Nat liked to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself. Everybody knew that. It’s why she always came across as distant and cold, but really, she just had a hard time trusting people.  
Never in a million years did she think that Steve had feelings back. She wanted to know for sure.   
Hell, she was an Avenger. She could do this, right?  
Natasha strode down the hallway, making her way to the hospital wing from the hall lights giving off a faint glow.  
Taking a deep breath, she entered the wing, only to find that Steve was wide awake. He was sat up against the headboard, scrolling through his laptop.  
“Doesn’t that hurt your eyes?”  
Nat leaned against the doorway, and Steve smiled at her. He closed the laptop, placing it on the bedside table.  
“I heal fast. I was just looking at the file from that mission.” Steve said, slowly swinging his legs off the side of the bed so he was facing Nat. She sat beside him.  
“I didn’t think you could even use a laptop.” Her lips turned up, giving him a slight grin.  
“Funny.” Steve rubbed the back of his neck. His face fell slightly.  
“I can’t believe that was a set-up from HYDRA. Did you and the rest of the team figure anything out?”  
Nat shrugged. “We tried, but we were more worried about you.”  
She paused, staring at her hands. Why did she feel so awkward all of a sudden? It was just Steve.  
“We missed you.” She looked up. “I missed you.”  
Steve wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him.  
“What was it like, the coma?” Nat asked him.  
Steve stared at the ceiling. He didn’t really know how to put it into words.  
“It felt…strange. I could hear everything, but I thought my brain was making it all up until Wanda said you guys weren’t.”  
Nat listened intently. Steve continued.  
“It was dark, and I tried to yell back to you and Wanda, but obviously you couldn’t hear me.”  
Nat sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest. She waited for him to continue, unsure of what to say. She was never good with words.  
“I didn’t know how to get out until Wanda helped me. I thought I was never going to see you again.”  
Nat stared at her hands, which were folded in her lap.  
“I thought I was never going to see you again.”  
“Well, we’re both wrong, aren’t we?” Steve laughed. “And I’m really glad about that.”  
“Me too.”  
A moment passed where they enjoyed each other’s presence, something they hadn’t done in a long time, until Nat broke it.  
“You…You said you could hear everything?” Чёрт побери, Nat. Could you be any more obvious?  
Steve rolled his eyes. He knew where this was going.  
“Yes, Nat. Everything.” He shifted slightly on the bed. “Even what you said.”  
Nat felt her cheeks go red. What was happening to her? She never blushed.  
Steve laughed, noticing the colour.  
“Natasha Romanoff, blushing? Never thought I’d see the day.”  
“I didn’t think you would hear any of it. I didn’t really want you to hear it either.” She said defensively, referring to her confession the night she found out Dr. Cho induced his coma.  
“Doesn’t make it any less valid, does it?”  
Nat crossed her arms.   
“What did I even say then, Rogers? If you think you know so well?”  
Steve chuckled. She was trying so hard to escape this conversation, but he was thoroughly enjoying it.  
“You know what you said. Sappy shit you’d hear in a Nicholas Spark’s movie.”  
“How do you even know what that is?”  
“I’m not that uncultured.”  
“You’re literally 97 years old.”  
He paused, tilting his head at her. “Are you gonna kiss me or what?”  
Nat nodded, swallowing. “Yeah.”  
So, she did. It was short and sweet but filled with passion. Something she had wanted to do for a really long time.  
Steve pulled away, looking into her eyes. Despite the fact that she looked sleep-deprived from stress, he felt he could stare into them for hours.  
“I tried to tell you, but since you couldn’t hear me, I’ll say it again.”  
Nat raised an eyebrow.  
“I love you too, Nat.”  
Nat embraced him, thankful he felt this way too. She was worried that this whole situation wasn’t going to turn out this way.  
“Why didn’t you say anything before, then?” She asked him.  
“Why didn’t you?”  
“I didn’t think you felt the same way.”  
Steve chuckled. “I didn’t, either.”  
Nat leaned in to kiss him again. “Well, now we know.”  
Steve smiled against her lips. They were both deliriously happy.  
Steve pulled her back on the bed, so she was laying on his chest. They stayed there, wrapped up in each other’s warmth.  
“What made you come down here? You told me that night you would say anything when I wake up.”  
Nat laughed to herself, thinking about her daughter.  
“Wanda, if you can believe it. She told me that you told her you loved me, when you were unconscious.”  
Steve snapped up, groaning when he realized he moved too fast.  
Nat touched the back of his head gently  
“Be careful, your head is still hurt.”  
“I never said that.” I mean, it’s true, obviously, I do have feelings for you, but I never told Wanda that.”  
Nat shook her head, a laugh echoing through the otherwise quiet room.  
“That little…”  
Steve cocked his head, confused. “What?”  
“She lied in order to get me to come to talk to you.”  
Steve fell into a fit of laughs. “She smart, she knows what she’s doing, doesn’t she? I can’t believe she got you to admit your feelings for me.”  
Nat went red again.  
“She didn’t, I did that myself when you were in your coma.”  
Steve blinked, waiting for her to continue.  
“Okay, well I guess I owe her then. Without her, I don’t think I would’ve had the guts to come down here.”  
“I don’t think you would’ve, either.”  
Nat slapped his arm playfully, getting up off the bed.   
“You should rest, we can talk about this tomorrow.”  
Steve shifted over in the bed.  
“Stay with me.”  
She squeezed his hand.  
“I can’t, I have to go back to Wanda.”  
Steve pouted. “She’ll understand. I mean, she did plan this whole scheme. She probably doesn’t expect you to come back.”  
Nat rolled her eyes, laying back into Steve’s arms.   
“I guess I can stay a little longer.”  
Steve wrapped his arms around her, and she felt herself drifting.  
“I’m so glad you’re here, Nat.” He whispered into her hair.  
“I’m glad too.” She whispered back before drifting off to sleep.  
…  
The next morning, Nat woke up to an audience. Wanda, Clint, Tony, Peter, and Bruce were all staring down at both Nat and Steve.  
She shot up, and so did Steve.  
“Morning, love birds.” Clint said, a smirk plastered to his face. Tony and Bruce were laughing, and Wanda was smiling brightly.  
Steve rubbed his eyes. “What time is it?”  
“Almost nine.” Clint pointed to the clock on the wall. “I can imagine you two didn’t get too much sleep last night.”  
“Shut up, Barton.” Nat and Steve snapped back in unison.  
Clint raised his hands in defense.  
Nat reached for Wanda’s hand. She had gotten ready herself that morning, and Nat could tell by the lopsided braids that she sported. It was cute.  
“Sorry I didn’t come back last night, milaya. I fell asleep.”  
Wanda stepped forward, shrugging.  
“It’s okay. I knew you wouldn’t come back.”  
Tony and Peter snorted but stopped when they realized no one else was laughing.  
Tony hit Peter lightly. “Don’t laugh.”  
“You did, too!” Peter protested.  
Nat rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She pulled Wanda onto her lap.  
“When can Steve leave, Bruce?”  
Bruce pulled a clipboard off the bedside table and pulled his glasses down from his head.  
“I still want to keep him for today to monitor the injury to the back of his head. I’ll have a nurse come and check on it in a bit. If everything looks good, I can discharge you with a few precautions. You’ll have to be woken up every four or so hours, and no loud noises, lights, or screens. Just regular concussion protocol.”  
Steve grimaced at his mistake. No wonder his head hurt a bit more this morning than last night. Nat gave him a look, eyeballing the now closed laptop that sat on the desk.  
He shrugged.  
There was a knock at the door, and Rhodey came into the room on crutches, followed by Sam.  
“I think we’ve got a lead on HY-“Rhodey noticed Wanda.  
“I mean…”  
Nat shook her head. “She knows, Rhodey, it’s okay.”  
Sam continued.  
“I think we might have some new info.”  
He pointed to the computer. “It seems we might have an idea on an actual location. SHIELD has a lead; we just have to get the details from them.”  
The rest of the team stood up.  
“Duty calls.” Tony turned to Steve.   
“Glad to have you back, Capsicle.”  
Steve nodded. “Glad to be back. Are you sure I can’t help?” He asked Bruce.  
“Sorry, Cap. You’re still on bed rest until I say so.”  
“Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do.”  
Nat stood up, taking Wanda’s hand. She smiled at Steve, her eyes full of happiness.  
“I’ll see you in a bit, Captain.”  
Steve saluted playfully.  
“Looking forward to it.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, hope you've had a great start to your week, and if not, it's probably just a case of the Mondays, am I right?;)  
> Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy xx

The next day, Wanda spent pretty much the whole day with Peter. She didn’t mind; Nat was back and forth constantly from the meeting room discussing HYDRA and the hospital wing with Steve.

She and Peter were in the living room of the compound, building a model of an x-wing fighter from Star Wars, something Peter brought from his house.

“Do you think there’s going to be another mission soon?”

Wanda asked, clicking a piece of Lego into place.

“I don’t know, it seems to me that S.H.I.E.L.D. pretty much has a handle on this one. I’m not sure if they’re going to need the whole team, if that’s what you’re asking.” 

Peter said, not taking his eyes off of the instruction pamphlet. 

Wanda nodded. She knew if the mission was anytime soon, Steve would definitely be benched, but she didn’t want Nat to leave again. 

Peter looked up, giving her a reassuring smile. 

“Don’t worry about it, Wands, everything’s gonna be okay.” 

He handed her the next section of Legos so she could attach it to the x-wing.

“Want to attach this?” 

Wanda nodded, taking the section. It looked like the bottom of the engine.

“There!” She smiled. It was all finished. She outreached her hands, and they glowed red, along with the x-wing. Closing her eyes, she slowly lifted it off the ground, levitating it through the air.

Peter gave a cheer of victory.

“Wow, Wanda! Your control is getting so good!”

Wanda smiled, never taking her eyes off the floating Lego sculpture. 

“Thanks, it’s getting easier thanks to Nat’s training. Can we watch the Star Wars movie, now?”

Peter had promised they would watch it after he explained to her what an x-wing was. She loved watching movies, and she was looking forward to starting a new one she’d never seen before with Peter.

“Of course! I even brought the first one!” He said, reaching out of his backpack to grab the DVD case. He went to slip it into the living room’s DVD player, but he stopped.

Peter’s smile fell, and so did Wanda’s They could hear the meeting next door get a little more loud than normal. Wanda couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it sounded like Nat and one of the boys were getting into a heated discussion.

Peter broke her thoughts.

“Why don’t we go into the gym or something? Play some one vs one basketball? Or we could go to the kitchen and make cookies?”

Wanda shook her head, holding her finger up to her lips.

“What are they saying?” She whispered, heading over to the door. Her arm was reached out behind her, the x wing following. Peter stopped her, grabbing her arm.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to listen, Wanda.”

“I already know about the base, Peter. What else could they be talking about?”

Peter shrugged.

The door opened, startling Wanda. She lost control, the Lego falling to the floor into a million pieces.

Clint stood in the doorway; his eyebrows raised.

“That’s going to take a while to clean up.”

Peter facepalmed. 

“It took even longer to put together.”

Clint chuckled, although his face scrunched up with worry. Wanda noticed.

“What’s wrong, Uncle Clint?” She asked.

Clint smiled at the term of endearment, but it soon turned into a sigh.

“We’ve got to go back out with S.H.I.E.L.D. They’ve found remnants of HYDRA in Berlin. I know it’s short notice, but we have to leave today. HYDRA moves fast, and if we want to keep up with them, we gotta match speed.”

“You can’t go!” Wanda protested. She realized she was whining, tears in her eyes, but she didn’t care. What about Nat? She couldn’t leave again so soon, not after what happened less than a month ago. And Steve? Someone had to stay to look after him.

Wanda wasn’t even listening to Clint. Her eyes scanned the meeting room, but there was no sign of Nat anywhere. Clint didn’t even get a chance to explain before she ran out of the room and down the hall towards Steve’s bedroom. She must be there.

Wanda realised she wasn’t thinking rationally, and running from her problems always got her into more trouble in the past. But she couldn’t help it.

Steve could hear sobbing from outside his door.

“Kiddo, what’s wrong?” He said, finding Wanda a mess on the other side. She had tears streaming down her face and she couldn’t speak, sobbing instead.

Its broke Steve’s heart.

She crashed into his midsection, almost sending him plummeting backward, but he caught himself, wrapping her up into a hug.

“Wanda, what’s wrong?” He asked again. Wanda couldn’t bring herself to answer. She pulled away, wiping her tears, but still sobbing, nonetheless.

Steve sat on his bed, patting the space beside him.

Wanda’s eyes darted around the room. Steve could tell she was in sheer panic.

She tried to run, but Steve caught her arm.

“Wanda, listen to me. Now is not the time to just run away.”

She was struggling to breathe, the sobs taking over.

“Hey, take a deep breath and relax for me.”

She nodded, taking a shaky breath.

“Okay, now do it again.”

She did, and Steve could tell she was calming down, despite the fact her eyes kept darting at the doorway. She needed to look for Nat, and since she wasn’t here, there was no reason for her to be either.

Steve gently lifted her up, placing her on the bed.

Wanda crossed her arms over her body, bringing her knees up to her chest. She looked so small and helpless, curled up into a ball.

“I can’t find her, where is she?” She mumbled to herself, not particularly expecting Steve to hear her.

Steve blinked, not catching on.

“Who?”

“Mama! I mean Nat, where is she?” She asked, correcting her mistake. Steve didn’t notice. Wanda continued.

“She can’t leave, she’ll get hurt like you. And she didn’t even say goodbye-“

Steve cut her off.

“Hold on, baby witch, slow down.”

Wanda stopped, holding in her sobs.

“What made you think your mama would leave without saying goodbye?”

Wanda shrugged pathetically.

“Clint said they had to leave as soon as possible, and-and I couldn’t find her anywhere! I thought she might be with you, but she wasn’t! Where is she?”

It sounded almost demanding, protective. Steve didn’t know how to answer. Obviously, Nat wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye, but he was just as confused as Wanda. Nat never mentioned a mission from their visit earlier. In fact, they didn’t really talk much at all.

Wanda could hear footsteps down the hallway, a familiar voice calling out her name.

Nat barged into the room.

“Steve! Is Wanda in here? Clint said-“

Nat noticed her, and Wanda crashed into her arms, emitting sobs of relief.

“I thought you left without saying goodbye! Where were you?” 

She managed to choke out, grabbing fistfuls of Nat’s sweater. 

“What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere, milaya.”

Nat soothed, rubbing her back.

“Uncle Clint told me you were leaving to track down Hydra again. You can’t leave me! Or Steve! You’ll get hurt or go missing like last time. And I’ll have to find you again!” 

Nat pulled away to look Wanda in the eyes. 

“Uncle Clint, Tony, and Sam are going. You didn’t let him finish before running out, milaya. I'm not going with them.”

Wanda cried harder, and Nat pulled her back into a hug. Steve gave her a sympathetic look from over Wanda’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry, I shouldn’t have freaked out or run away from Clint. I’m sorry, mama! I just don’t want to be left alone again!”

Nat knew this wasn’t about being left alone temporarily. She was fine with being away from her for a few hours, especially when she was with Steve or Peter. Wanda was worried Nat was going to die like her parents or Pietro. And the worst part was that deep down, Nat couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t get hurt on the job, or worse. Her job was dangerous, and they dealt with unsafe weapons and people every time she had a mission.

“Shh, malyshka, it’s okay. Don’t be sorry, I know you didn’t mean to run off.” 

Nat stroked her hair, whispering comforting words in her ear. Wanda eventually calmed down, her sobs turning into sniffs. She kept her head on Nat’s shoulder, unable to look at either her or Steve. The more she calmed down, the more embarrassed she became of what just happened.

Thank god for Peter. He saved her from the humiliation.

He knocked on Steve’s door.

“Umm, is Wanda in there? I wanted to make sure she was okay, she just kind of ran off.”

Wanda cleared her throat.

“I’m coming, Peter, did you put the movie in?” She wiggled out of Nat’s embrace, got up off the floor, and wiped her tears.

Nat caught her arm, giving her a concerned look.

“Will talk about this later, okay?” 

Wanda nodded, looking away. “I’m sorry again, to both of you.”

Steve gave her an empathetic look.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Baby witch.” He gave her a sad smile.

“You can always come back if Peter gets too annoying.”

Wanda nodded.

“I heard that!” Peter squeaked on the other side.

She left the room, and Nat sighed, putting her head in her hands. She let out a shaky breath.

“This is going to be a problem later, Steve. I can already tell.” 

Her voice came out stressed, and he helped guide her off the ground and onto the bed.

“What do you mean?”

“Separation anxiety, I read about it. When you or your child goes through a traumatic event, they can’t stay by themselves for long periods without getting too worked up. How am I going to go back to work? Or have her go to school? How could I ever think I could have a child when my job is this dangerous? Wanda worries about me more than I worry about her."

She took a sharp breath.

"I’m not cut out for this, Steve. What kind of mother am I?”

It was Nat’s turn to tear up. The tears turned into pathetic sobs, and she couldn’t control herself from breaking down. It genuinely scared Steve. He had never seen her cry before. He pulled her into a hug, but she tried to pull away, wiping her tears.

Nat went to stand up, but Steve pulled her back down.

“Listen to me right now, Natasha. You always try to build walls around yourself, always acting like everything is okay. But you’re allowed to be sad, and scared. No one is holding that against you. You’re human, and-“

“I’m not, Steve!” She sobbed again. “I was raised to have no emotion, to be a killing machine with no remorse.”

Her stomach flipped. She never talked about her past in the Red Room. Nat had thought she was over her past, but once in a while it still crept into the front of her head.

“Nat, listen to me. Take a deep breath.”

Much like Wanda less than ten minutes ago, she took a shaky breath, holding Steve’s hand in a death grip.

“You are human, Nat. Don’t ever say that you aren’t again, and you not a horrible mother. You’re an amazing mother. Wanda loves you, and you love her. You showed her what family is, and showed her she is deserving of it. Without you, Wanda would still think she is a monster, a worthless weapon used by Hydra.”

Nat sniffed, waiting for him to continue. She breathed in heavily, taking in Steve’s scent. It was comforting.

“She deserves someone better than me, Steve,” Nat choked out.

“A mother who isn’t away for days at a time, and can actually guarantee 100 percent that she’ll come back unharmed. Wanda doesn’t deserve that.”

A tear escaped her eye and Steve wiped it away. Nat tensed at the touch.

“Nat, listen to me. She’ll get over this. You both will. And about your job, that has nothing to do with whether someone is a good parent or not. Sure, being an Avenger might be a little more dangerous than regular jobs,” 

He paused, shrugging. “Or a lot, whatever floats your boat.”

Nat grimaced. “Not helping.”

Steve kissed her head, silently apologizing. Much like her, he didn't have a great way with words, although he really did try.

“Look, the point is, Clint has raised three kids while being an Avenger. You’re just as capable, and you’ve already shown that these past few months. Wanda’s a strong kid. She’ll get over the separation issue, you’ll see. You just have to take it slow, and start small.”

Nat nodded silently, wrapping her arms tighter around Steve. He rubbed his hand up and down her back comfortingly.

“How do you always know what to say, even on topics you have no idea about, like parenting?” She whispered into the crook of his neck. She usually hated this kind of affection, but right now, it seemed to bring her relief.

Steve laughed slightly, making Nat smile. His laugh never failed to make her feel better.

He didn’t really have an answer.

“I just do.”

She breathed steadily, relaxing in his embrace.

“Just give it time, Nat. She’s not going to show change overnight. Wanda will overcome this with the help from you, and me and the rest of the team, too.”

She nodded.

“Thank you.” She mumbled into his shirt, which was now damp with her tears.

He kissed her, and all her worries melted away, even if just temporarily.


End file.
